THE STORY: “The conflict between the established artist and the adulatory fan who becomes a protégé, disciple, colleague and friend—and finally threatening rival—is one of those great topics…It resurfaces in Donald Margulies’s provocative new play, COLLECTED STORIES, which confronts the prominent short-story writer Ruth Steiner with her student turned confidante turned competitor Lisa Morrison. What is new here is that the women are teacher and student both in academia and in life, that they come from different social milieus, and that for her first novel, Lisa has also cannibalized Ruth’s experiences, to wit her youthful, shattering affair with the poet Delmore Schwartz. As always, Margulies is literate, intellectually stimulating, and able to create characters of both dramatic and human interest. And he sustains this interest through six scenes covering six years that only briefly leave Ruth’s cozily messy, book-infested Greenwich Village apartment. Here two worlds clash in age-old, ecumenical dueling, led up to by great mutual emotional investment, and all the more bitter for it.” —New York Magazine.
“With his fine ear for detail, Margulies creates an authentic, insular world, and he gives equal weight to the opposing viewpoints of two formidable characters.” —Los Angeles Times.
“This is probably Margulies’ best play to date…” —New York Post.
“Margulies’ play is an affecting character study and a well-drawn portrait of the insular world of fiction writers, demonstrating his gift for sharply written and incisive dialogue.” —The Hollywood Reporter.
“As usual, Margulies holds the rich ore of his material up to the light so that it sends beams in every direction…always fluid and lively, the play is thick with ideas, like a stockpot of good stew.” —Village Voice.
