A respected short story writer and teacher in her mid-fifties, Ruth Steiner (Linda Lavin), has carved out a comfortable life for herself in a Greenwich Village apartment she has occupied for decades. Lisa Morrison (Samantha Mathis), is a callow yet talented 26 year old graduate student and aspiring writer, a child of suburban privilege. Lisa Morrison arrives at Ruth’s apartment for her first tutorial as a gawky, gushing hero worshiper. When Ruth quips, “I had someone darker in mind,” she doesn’t realize the foreshadowing in her own life story, but the audience should be put on alert. The sharp-tongued Ruth takes Lisa under her wing, and their relationship evolves from professor-pupil to friendship, with sparks flying all along the way. Before long, they have become as close as mother and daughter.

During her tutorial, upon learning from Ruth that she needs an assistant, Lisa  offers her services to Ruth. As Ruth’s assistant, Lisa’s only trying to do right by her, to help her organize her life because it’s such a mess — she has the best intentions. Ruth’s reaction is so harsh; she simply doesn’t want anyone in her space. Lisa only wants to please her — she’s like a puppy dog that just wants to be loved and petted. The invasion of Ruth’s privacy is much more profound and blatant than the original one of fixing up the desk. If you’ve ever lived alone — and I have — you’ve given lots of attention to your things, your space, even if they look horrible to someone else. Metaphorically, to have somebody rearrange your stuff is a judgment on how you do things.

Under Ruth’s mentorship over time,  Lisa has had a collection of short stories published and critics hail her as “a keen and clever chronicler of the new lost generation.” Then why is Lisa so worried and miserable? Ruth can relate: “There’s nothing worse than getting what you wanted.” Having used the sex, drugs and bulimia of her suburban life as her literary theme, Lisa is terrified that she’ll be a one-book wonder.  She wants “to come up with something bigger than myself.” What Lisa uses as her theme for her next book seems the ultimate betrayal to Ruth. Lisa reaches into Ruth’s past and uses her affair with the famous poet, Delmore Schwartz, as if it happened in her own life, as her subject matter.  Now rivals, the play climaxes with a ferocious clash between the two women. Over six years, in as many scenes, Collected Stories eavesdrops on Ruth and Lisa as their relationship evolves from mentor/protegee to loving friends to adversaries and ultimately disinegrates, while touching on issues of age, artistic license, and betrayal.

Writer Donald Margulies is himself a Jewish writer, a teacher at Yale and winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for his play “Dinner With Friends.” However, he has a degree in visual art and worked for years as a graphic designer. Encouragement from an established writer led Margulies to pursue his writing, and planted one of the seeds for “Collected Stories.” Other inspiration for the play came from a real-life controversy between the two writers David Leavitt and Steven Spender. Leavitt’s novel “When England Sleeps” drew on a chapter in Spender’s memoirs. Spender sued for plagiarism and succeeded in forcing Leavitt to edit his novel. Margulies has said, “I wanted to dramatize the theme of betrayal.” This film was released in 1996.

“I empathize with both sides of the argument. I also know what it takes to be a writer and to be as ruthless as Ruth, so to speak. I don’t come down on either side of the argument. I never do in my work really. I think part of the pleasure that audiences derive from theater is not to have solutions handed to them, or to be told whether something is right or wrong. For me one of the great pleasures of experiencing this play in front of many different audiences is watching audiences argue about the issues of the play. You have to suspend certain etiquette when you are a writer, and that is part of what is discussed throughout the play. Our sympathies should shift from moment to moment in this piece. These women are both flawed, and don’t always behave in what we would term honorable ways. Lisa can be selfish and impulsive, and so can Ruth. Ruth can be as Lisa says, she can be impossible. And much of it is out of her own insecurity and her own need to maintain a certain position in the rank. Her hurt and her reaction is something very human. She’s not simply being magnanimous in her approval of her young protégée. It’s double-edged”. – Donald Margulies

It’s so amazing that you can create such an intense story with only two actors, but it was done very successfully. Donald Margulies is a very creative and complex writer. He’s also my cousin.

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Jan 30, ’08 It’s a scarey theme to consider as to who owns your thoughts, because after you express them to someone, they can claim ownership, and that’s what happened in this play.

deletereply sanssouciblogs wrote on Jan 30, ’08 I think the play was superior to the movie (picture above): I saw it in 1997 with Maria Tucci and Debra Messing, who was new to tv. (Will and Grace). Both were wonderful. It wasn’t so much that “thoughts” were stolen, it was more like a life was stolen and capitalized on; used,  adopted and absconded with. Interesting that Ruth becomes somewhat powerless, losing her identity, Ruth-less, though Lisa is the Ruthless one. You can read more about Donald Margulies here, or give a google and get a cuppa coffee. http://www.pbs.org/hollywoodpresents/collectedstories/writing/write_margulies_1.html