Collected Stories
Collected Stories
By Donald Margulies
Starring Karel K. Wright and Piper Rae Patterson
Directed by Denise Gillman
Mad Cow Theater, Orlando FL</strong>
Beware of whom ye mentor, lest they show you up one day. Ruth Steiner (Wright) is the mistress of the short story and old school Bohemian. After a bad love affair half a century ago she locked herself away in a Greenwich Village apartment teaching grad classes and pounded out miniature fiction. Today she’s tutoring a gifted student Lisa (Patterson) and it’s a classic clash of the cultures: Steiner is domineering and tweedy, Lisa is blonde and speaks with a Valley Girl question mark in every sentence. Steiner hectors and lectures, Lisa begs to please her and lands a job as assistant gofer and part-time house maid. As the scenes roll by Steiner transitions from intimidating to compromising to mentoring as Lisa builds confidence and a portfolio of publication. They become friends as Steiner eventually reveals the details of the affair, and Lisa quietly records those details into a potentially successful novel while Steiner produces a nice summary of the play they occupy. When Steiner sees a galley of the novel, she ditches Lisa in anger and we end the story, unresolved.
Slice of life, internal monolog brought out, or an extremely chaste love story, this is a moving and gripping drama from the opening “stuck window scene” to that final door slam. Wright and Patterson worked together before and they give us not only chemistry but great delivery of that mountain of dialog, all punctuated with heart and heat. We peel these women to the core: Wright an old fashion girl damaged by an ill-advised relation and Patterson the naïf who grows into a cagey and aggressive collector of material. The set is cozy and bookish, missing only the smell of dust and lavender powder to be complete. I’ll mention the floor (Lisa Buck) is gorgeous, and conclude that this is some of the finest interpersonal drama of the season.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
