By Harry Haun
Linney qualifies as a Margulies muse on the basis of three productions and two plays. She did Sight Unseen, his other Pulitzer contender, twice, playing both female roles — an arts interviewer Off-Broadway, and the wronged heroine in its Broadway revival. "That first production was such a very special time in my life," she says. "I was right out of school. I had worked before that, but it was the first part I had originated. I was sublimely happy, and I learned so much. Then to go back to it 12 years later — what a great opportunity! This is what, hopefully, actresses get to do: go from ingénue to character actress. They get to grow up in the theatre."
And where does Margulies find his inspiration for such strong, compelling women? He finds it at home — with his wife of 30 years, Lynn Street, a general internist in New Haven, where he teaches playwriting at Yale.
"Mostly," he concedes, "it's actresses who comment on the roles I write for women. I've always been interested in smart, complicated women. I'm married to one.
25 Feb 2010
The inspiration for Collected Stories came from a man, Stephen Spender, who brought a case of plagiarism against a student. "What it inspired Donald to do was to look at the life of a writer and examine what happens when you, if you're not a trusting person, finally do trust someone with your story, and they go off and write your story as their first novel. If they take elements of your story and disguise it, it's still your story and not theirs. What he's looking at is, 'Whose life is it anyway?' How much are you allowed to take someone else's story and take liberties and say it's your story? My experience is that the audience is split down the middle."
Playwright Donald Margulies photo by Ethan Hill
The Dames of Don
"My wife never ceases to challenge and move me. It's funny — people are always saying to me, 'You know, your women are so complex.' And I say, 'Yes, she is.'"
