Playwright Sarah Ruhl, whose play The Clean House begins performances October 5 at Lincoln Center Theater in a production starring Blair Brown and Jill Clayburgh, is among the 25 winners of $500,000 "genius award" grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Ruhl was the only theater artist honored.
According to the foundation's website, the 32-year-old playwright "is emerging as a powerful presence in the American theater," one who is "creating vivid and adventurous theatrical works that poignantly juxtapose the mundane aspects of daily life with mythic themes of love and war." Ruhl's plays include Melancholy Play 2002, Orlando 2003, Eurydice 2003, The Clean House 2004, Dead Man's Cell Phone 2005 and Passion Play: A Cycle. She received a B.A. 1997 in English and an M.F.A. 2001 in playwriting from Brown University.
Winners of MacArthur grants, known as fellows, receive annual checks for $100,000 for the next five years with no strings attached. "Selection for a MacArthur Fellowship is the culmination of an intensive review of the creative efforts and promise of each Fellow," says MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. "Fellows receive the gift of time and an unfettered opportunity to reflect, explore and create."
