Anthony Ruth

Presented excerpts from his play Essays, a comedy about cancer, depression, queerness, and death in a metaphysical, post-9/11 world where a young gay couple befriends aging writer Susan Sontag.
Anthony Ruth began entertaining Chicago audiences as early as 1993, when he performed in the children’s choir of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Donny Osmond, at the Chicago Theater. More recently, he is the author of the plays Half Steps and The Answering Machine, both seen in the New Play Festival at the Metropolis Centre for the Performing Arts in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and he is a semi-regular in the Playwright’s Workshop at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. His reporting and criticism have appeared in Newcity, in promotional materials for the Chicago International Film Festival, and in the alumni magazine at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where he currently works as a marketing manager. He has appeared as an extra in the feature film Proof and participated in Lauren Berlant’s documentary film project I Think About Iraq Every Day. He holds a BA in English and an MA in the humanities, both from the University of Chicago, where his story “Stages” appeared in the chapbook Don’t Cry For Me, Academia, for which he suggested the title.