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After 32 years of playwriting, at the age of 48, Ed Schmidt is walking away from the theater and, in the process, giving away all of his 2000+ theater books. One book at a time. At the end of the evening, each audience member will leave with any book from the shelves. The run of the play will end when the shelves are bare and all the books are gone. Click here for more information and to book tickets. To read the latest reviews and articles about "My Last Play," click here.

Mr. Schmidt's early retirement from playwriting is not unprecedented in the annals of the stage. Shakespeare wrote "The Tempest" at 48 and then, for all intents and purposes, to use a phrase the Bard himself coined, walked away from the theater. He died at the age of 52.

Moliere died at 51. While performing in his last play, "Le Malade Imaginaire." He coughed up blood into a handkerchief (which I have, by the way; remind me to show it to you), and then he lost consciousness, feel to the floor, and was dragged backstage. Since Moliere was playing a hypochondriac, the audience thought Moliere's death was part of the show, that he was acting. And since "Le Malade Imaginaire" is a comedy, the audience laughed as Moliere died. I'd like to think that Moliere, if he hadn't been dead, would have appreciated the irony.