Collected Stories, a play of friendship, betrayal, and identity, performs at 91³Ô¹ÏÍø
What would you do if someone decided to write and sell your story – your history, your past loves, your regrets – without your permission? How much of your story, particularly the details of your life that are out in public for everyone to see, is truly yours? This is one of the central questions in the playÌýCollected StoriesÌýby Donald Margulies, produced by Brainerd Community Theatre and presented by the Central Lakes Community Performing Arts Center. This two-character play stars Laura Busch as Ruth, a celebrated author, and explores her six-year relationship with her protégé, Lisa, a talented yet naive writer played by Kryston Wiseley.Ìý
The play is directed by Corrine Johnson, a Theatre faculty member at Central Lakes College. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and has also taught at St. Ambrose University, Luther College, Augustana College,ÌýÌýthe University of Oregon and the University of Minnesota.ÌýÌýÌýAs an actress, she has most recently been seen as Virginia inÌýThree Viewings,ÌýLinda inÌýDeath of a Salesman,ÌýAunt Julia inÌýHedda Gabler,ÌýVirginia inÌýW;t,Ìýand Stevie inÌýThe Goat, or Who’s Sylvia?ÌýÌýFavorite directing experiences include:ÌýÌýBrighton Beach Memoirs,ÌýA Streetcar Named Desire,ÌýPippin, and the premiere ofÌýTUG: This Untoward Generation.ÌýIn 2017 she was awarded the Kennedy Center American College Theatre’s Gold Medallion Award for excellence in Theatre education.ÌýÌý
Collected StoriesÌýreceived its world premiere at South Coast Repertory in 1996, where it won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production of a Play and Best Original Play. The play was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist.ÌýCollected StoriesÌýlater premiered Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1997. The production starred Maria Tucci and Debra Messing and was directed by Lisa Peterson. It received the Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Play and was a finalist for the Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award for Best Play.
In 2010, the play was produced on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, with Linda Lavin and Sarah Paulson in the lead roles. The production was also a critical success, receiving multiple award nominations, including a Tony Award nomination for Linda Lavin.
Donald Margulies is an American playwright and professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University. He won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama forÌýDinner with FriendsÌýand was a finalist twice before forÌýSight UnseenÌýandÌýCollected Stories.ÌýÌýHis many other plays, which includeÌýLong Lost,ÌýThe Country House,ÌýShipwrecked! An Entertainment,ÌýBrooklyn Boy, the Tony Award-nominatedÌýTime Stands StillÌýand the Obie Award-winningÌýThe Model Apartment, have been produced on and off-Broadway and in theaters across the United States and around the world. Mr. Margulies has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Margulies is celebrated for his ability to capture the complexity of human relationships and his insightful observations on contemporary life.
Joey Yow, Director of the Central Lakes Community Performing Arts Center, creditsÌýCollected StoriesÌýas being particularly relevant to our modern times. “How many of us have uploaded years of details about our personal lives to social media sites under the naïve assumption that only our friends and family would take note or interest? As we’ve moved into the era of the mass repurposing of knowledge for the sake of fast reads and entertainment, I find myself so much more protective of what information I share with the world about my family, my accomplishments, and my struggles. From regurgitated blog posts, analysis writers in media, homemade YouTube reaction videos, and AI-tools scrubbing the internet to create facsimile of human writing, it feels as if we are always having someone else’s thoughts and creations repackaged to us (usually, without credit.)ÌýCollected StoriesÌýgets right at the heart of our modern conundrum – how much control do we have, or even should expect to have, of our own story, particularly when the cultural expectation is that we freely share that story? How much of what is known about us in the world can be changed or manipulated, and can we ever regain the truth?â€
Collected StoriesÌýruns Thursday through Saturday evenings from April 27 to May 6, 2023 at the Dryden Theatre, Central Lakes College in Brainerd, MN. Doors open at 6:30. Show begins at 7:00 and lasts two hours with intermission. Tickets are available atÌýÌýand at the Box Office (218-855-8199).Ìý
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