Donald Margulies takes on love in a time of war

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The last time we saw Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies, we were swept away on a high-seas adventure, courtesy of Louis de Rougemont. In case you’ve forgotten, De Rougemont was Margulies’ storyteller in “Shipwrecked! An Entertainment.” That play opens tonight off-Broadway at Primary Stages in New York.

“Shipwrecked!” represented something of a departure from Margulies’ usual dramatic style and was stripped of “spectacle” staging, forcing audience members to focus on language and imagination. The play was commissioned by South Coast Repertory, where it premiered in 2007, and last year was mounted at the Geffen Playhouse, with director Bart DeLorenzo and actor Gregory Itzin returning to the show. Margulies discussed his impetus for writing the play in an essay for The Times’ Playwrights on Writing series.

Now Margulies is back with “Time Stands Still,” a new work commissioned by the Geffen. This play revolves around the relationship between a photojournalist and a reporter just back from covering the war in Iraq. But, the playwright tells Sean Mitchell in Sunday’s Arts & Books section, “This is not an Iraq play.... This is a love story.”

“Time Stands Still,” starring Anna Gunn, Alicia Silverstone, David Harbour and Robin Thomas, opens Wednesday at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood.

-- Lisa Fung