Welcome to Litsy!

Very grateful I recently read the Rickman diaries, as I feel absorbing his experience with theater (getting plays made and acting in plays) subs for my not having much experience personally in the field this playwright is writing about. This is basically 100 short essays on being a playwright, with a little motherhood thrown in.
Glad to see the one on 'Color-blind casting; or, why are there so many white people on stage?' in particular.

I don't care if it's incredibly sentimental, THAT is ADORABLE. 😍

Important distinction.

💀

Lightness as victory.

Elegant, slightly cheeky presentation of a personal truth.

Page 4: Tone firmly established! 😅

In the end this book was pretty ok. I found my mind drifting off a lot of the time, not because it was not holding my attention, but rather because it reminded me of people and places and conversations long since past. Unfortunately because I thought this was a collection of essays she didn‘t have time to write, but did anyway and was Instead of an author‘s idea notebook of partially fleshed out ideas, I was a little disappointed.

At about the halfway way mark, this is pretty good, not quite what I was expecting but interesting. However, many, if not most, of the essays feel unfinished, more like a start of something that will be edited and expanded later.

I think I‘d love to be at a dinner party with author Sarah Ruhl. I‘ve never seen one of her plays, so it might make the conversation a bit awkward, but this book fascinated me. Her random thinking process about theater, creativity, and culture leave me wanting to hear her expound more on these topics that I care about.

Book 1 of #mountTBR.
This book of essays is mainly focused on the theatre and its machinations and her thoughts on it. Divided into 4 sections - these essays encompass Sarah Ruhl's life as a playwright with 3 children in tow.
Some of the more theatre specific nuances probably escaped me but I found the essays a short and delightful way to understand a little bit more about the world of playwrights and aspects about theatre.

One of my favorite essay collections ever. Today, featuring essay #twentyfour. #24 #novemberbythenumbers

I've always enjoyed Sarah Ruhl's plays. They're funny and touching all at the same time. Her essays were similar in nature to her plays and gave an added insight in to her views on translating real life to the stage. Each essay is one or two pages long, so this book was a very quick read and I enjoyed how accessible the language was.

I love coming back to this essay when I need to refocus. I should just get the whole thing framed really. The whole essay.

"I remember reading Alice Walker's essay in my twenties about how a woman writer could manage to have one child, but more was difficult." #firstlines #essays #motherhood #theatre #playwrights #minimalism #storytelling

Anybody who is in any way interested in the theater needs to read this book. It's short essays -- 1-2 pages -- mostly on how the theater works and on Sarah Ruhl's writing life. It's suggestive and fascinating, short but deep.

Lovely.

This #recommendsday I give you an easily digestible, smart collection of essays. Must read if you're in the theater. Should read regardless.

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