Collected Stories

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Collected Stories is a 1997 play by Donald Margulies about a mentor-mentee relationship between Ruth, the experienced writer/teacher (Grace Kiley), and her eager student protégé Lisa (Christina Toth). The show deals with themes of artistic ownership, admiration, jealousy, and cyclical relationship patterns. Ruth is closed-off yet witty and insightful, full of wisdom about writing such as “Don’t tell me about it, write it. Telling takes away the need to write. It relieves the pressure.” Lisa, who hangs off her every word at first, gradually grows in confidence until the end, when she writes a novel based in part on a chapter of Ruth’s life the famous teacher would have much preferred to keep private.

The show and production is perfect for the chosen venue, a newly opened theater. Director Lori Kee makes excellent use of the intimate space, full of bookshelves that wrap around the room to give a lived-in look that enhances the setting dramatically. Production manager Akash Inti Katakam and prop coordinator Josie Underwood arrange the set so the audience really feels as if they’re casually inside Ruth’s home. The cramped living room, old desk, and well-worn big chair all create the feeling that someone has lived there for decades. Even the books themselves seem carefully chosen to elucidate Ruth’s life and character, from a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X to tomes on psychology and classical music.

Kee and lighting designer Giovanni Villari often keep Ruth parked behind her desk and off to the side in dimmer lighting, in contrast to Lisa. The younger woman is made to sit at center stage, brightly lit and in full view of everyone. It’s a clever bit of staging, allowing the lighting to reflect Lisa’s vulnerability under Ruth’s (and the audience’s) scrutinizing gaze. The set leaves little room for pacing, but Kee and Toth have Lisa move about Ruth’s apartment with a mixture of nervousness and awe, touching the walls with a reverence before quickly pulling her hand away when Ruth looks at her.

Kiley’s performance is stellar. Lisa is the play’s protagonist, but Ruth is the show’s star. Kiley’s Ruth starts off snappy and impatient, gradually warming to Lisa and even growing to respect her without ever losing the character’s wit. In one scene, Ruth is sharing a story she wrote about a mother and her daughter (who are clearly meant as stand-ins for herself and Lisa) in which the mother is sick but cannot tell the daughter. Kiley conjures up a mix of pain and total certainty as she talks, one that slowly changes over the scene to show a previously-unseen vulnerability in the character. Kiley deftly portrays Ruth struggling to deal with an unfamiliar feeling: jealousy. Ruth’s character doesn’t change very much in the script, but Kiley finds a new angle in every scene through which to explore the stoic writer, making her a mesmerizing presence throughout. Kiley is captivating onstage, even if her co-star struggles to capture the same magic.

Toth gives audiences an interesting take on Lisa. Toth struggles to take the character’s self-consciousness to any notable places, but in the final scene it’s as if a switch flips. Toth’s Christina comes alive. Clad in black evening formalwear (chosen by costume coordinator Carol Brodsky), she gets a bit venomous, adopting a dismissive and patronizing attitude towards Ruth. Toth plays it to the hilt, and it’s by far her best moment in the play. In the first act, her Christina often comes off as far more confident and self-assured than the script would suggest, which tends to reduce the character’s feelings of inadequacy to a place of irritating navel-gazing. She doesn’t quite find how to make the softer dimension work, and she’s unfortunately far too hesitant to lean into the character’s self-righteous cruelty.

The mentor-mentee relationship between Ruth and Lisa explores deeper questions of artistic ownership and what it means to betray someone. The intimate space enhances the feeling of trust, making the final scene all the more emotionally intense. The competing narratives between the two women clash as neither is able to state how she feels except indirectly through writing, leading to a somber conclusion. As Ruth herself says earlier in the play, sometimes stories just end.

Collected Stories (through May 18, 2025)

East Village Basement, 321 E. 9th St, New York, NY, 10003

For tickets, visit bit.ly/42t0sfg

Running time: two hours including one intermission