Collected Stories

Here’s your chance to see a much-produced favorite by South Coast Repertory’s favorite in-house playwright, Donald Margulies—whose Shipwrecked , Brooklyn Boy and Sight Unseen also began at SCR. Since 1996, Collected Stories has been staged on Broadway and broadcast on PBS and is arguably Margulies’ best work. Think All About Eve for the literary set. Setting betrayal and trust against craft and an obligation to make art, a famous writer’s life is pretty much stolen by a young protégé who transforms her mentor from a real-life writer into a character in a book. Is this plagiarism? James Frey-ism? Or only the sincerest form of flattery and what aspiring writers need to become published novelists? Identify with the student, or be outraged with the teacher. Lisa: “What did I do that any good writer wouldn’t have done?” Ruth: “Have you no conscience?”
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: May 15. Continues through May 31, 2009