Writers collide in Margulies' 'Collected Stories'

[April 29, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Teacher vs. pupil. Let the conflict begin.

Or in this case, the play -- Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories," in an exemplary Broadway revival which Manhattan Theatre Club opened Wednesday at its Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

The two-character drama, first seen in two separate off-Broadway productions more than a decade ago, stars Linda Lavin, as Ruth Steiner, a celebrated writer mentoring a young woman who's eager to worship at the shrine of her literary idol. Lavin's character apparently is vaguely modeled after Grace Paley, the short story writer and political activist.

The acolyte, portrayed by Sarah Paulson, is beginning her career; Ruth, while still writing, is looking back on hers. And from their different perspectives, Margulies has fashioned an engrossing if narrowly focused meditation on what a writer's life is like -- its ups, downs and all points in-between.

Lavin is a joy to watch, investing Ruth with an appealing kind of cranky wisdom that only grows more pronounced as the woman ages ("Collected Stories" covers a span of six years). The actress gives one of those complete, nuanced performances, capturing the woman's intellectual vigor, her wry sense of humor and her increasing physical frailty with astonishing fidelity. And Lavin's sense of timing is superb, whether delivering a joke or acerbically dissecting the work of her protegee.

Paulson's Lisa, an equally adept portrait, undergoes an even more profound change, transforming from gawky student to tentative, nervous short-story writer to accomplished author. It's this transformation that precipitates the play's dramatic crisis in Act 2.

But before we reach that point, Margulies chronicles the blossoming friendship between the two women -- from the professional to the personal. The playwright is a skilled delineator of relationships, family and otherwise, in such plays as his Pulitzer Prize-winning "Dinner With Friends" and this season's "Time Stands Still" (also a Manhattan Theatre Club production).

Intimate details are revealed when Ruth talks about her volatile relationship with poet Delmore Schwartz, and it's this information that leads to the play's fireworks. Friends suddenly become potential rivals -- and more.

Lynne Meadow has directed the production in an unfussy, straightforward manner, allowing the action to unfold quietly (until that final explosion) in Ruth's expansive, authentic-looking Greenwich Village apartment designed by Santo Loquasto.

Like its set, "Collected Stories" is a solid piece of theatrical craftsmanship -- in the expert hands of two fine actresses.

[Associated Press; By MICHAEL KUCHWARA]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.