I think it’s fair to say that the name Donald Margulies is not a household name. Better than that, it’s a pretty good bet that Mr. Margulies is not a known entity in places where the theatre is a mainstay and centerpiece of cultural activity. I’d be willing to bet if you asked 10 actors to name the top five American playwrights of the last 20 years, Donald Margulies wouldn’t make the list for nine of those surveyed.
Oddly enough, Donald Margulies has been quietly flying under the radar since his first play, Found a Peanut (which the New York Times called “‘Peanuts’ with an advanced case of Weltschmerz,” a not altogether flattering assessment) to his most recent, Tony-nominated play, Time Stands Still from 2010 (if you don’t count his forthcoming adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides novel Middlesex for HBO).
Along the way, he has garnered national attention for his first major effort, his 1992 play Sight Unseen; a Pulitzer for 1998’s Dinner With Friends; and reviews that would make more famous writers green with envy, for plays like The Model Apartment (1988); The Loman Family Picnic (1989), God of Vengeance (2000) and Collected Stories (1997).
Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and boasting three New York productions from 1997 to 2010, and countless regional showings, Collected Stories is a wonderfully challenging piece of theatre and one which shows the growth of The Village Players as a credible purveyor of contemporary work by living playwrights. Indeed, strong scripts appear to be in vogue at VP this year with plays by Beth Henley, Neil Simon and Garson Kanin still on tap for this season.
Collected Stories, running from November 2 through November 17, may be the most intriguing of the season at the Players. The action of the show revolves around an older short story writer and her young protege. We watch over a 6 year period, as the young writer goes from insecure neophyte to an established and confident wordsmith who has grown successful in her own right, perhaps to the detriment of her older teacher.
Having achieved success, the younger writer chooses as her subject for a novel an affair that her teacher had with real-life poet Delmore Schwartz, opening up a Pandora’s Box of ethical and moral questions. Needless to say, the relationship is strained as the women have to come to terms with the validity of using someone else’s life experience (a friend and mentor’s no less!) as the basis of a creative effort for another writer to “borrow” from and create.
It’s an amazing issue in an era of no-holds-barred, anything-goes journalism in which the media plays a more important role than that of the event they are covering much of the time. And Margulies treats the topic with sensitivity and extraordinary roles for two strong actors, in this case, Maryjo Gavin (the mentor) and Laura Crawford (the student). See Collected Stories and you may start to understand why Donald Margulies should be on nine out of 10 best contemporary American Playwrights lists for those keeping track of such things.
“Collected Stories” is directed by Richard Furlong runs from Friday, November 2 through Saturday, November 17 at 2740 Upton Ave.
Thursday through Saturday at 8pm. 419-472-6827. www.thevillageplayers.org.
