Pulitizer Prize Playwright Donald Marguilies' "Sight Unseen" Performed by Julliard's Drama Students

Donald Marguilies (b Amer 1954) is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright ("Dinner with Friends") 2000 and professor at Yale.  His plays "Sight Unseen" & "Collected Stories" were both finalists for the Pulitizer Prize.  "Sight Unseen" first produced on stage in 1991, deals with many of the themes Marguilies includes in his work:  identity (especially Jewish identity,) artistic achievement & angst, regrets and "if only" reflections.  Marguilies is one of the best living playwrights but his earlier play "Sight Unseen" is sophomoric.  Johnathan Waxman (John Bamberry) is a a hot commodity in the art world so much so art dealers are willing to pay outrageous prices to purchase works before they're even painted.  Patricia (an admirable performance by Lauren Donahue) was his college "shicksa" sweetheart whom he dumped unceremoniously during his mother's shiva.  The time sequence & staging are clever; the story moves forwards & backwards in time & hops back/forth over the pond.  Eight years after their breakup, Patricia is now archeologist married to a British archeologist, Nick, (a totally miscast Eric Harper) living in Norfolk.  Jonathan contacts "Patti" while in London to promote a show of his latest works.  It's decided that Jonathan will come to visit Patti & Nick for a night despite neither having been in contact since his heartless "I don't love you," breakup in his childhood room following his mother's funeral.  Patti's attempts at engaging Jonathan in sex & disparaging talk of his mother's disdain for her solely for not being born of the same tribe are brusquely pushed aside.  The reunion in Norfolk 8 years later pits Jonathan against a hostile Nick who has always felt 2nd best to the "great artist" and reminded daily by the nude portrait of his wife he painted while in college.  It is a constant reminder & thorn in his thigh hanging high over the mantel.  You can see tell the bitterness & regrets build.   The archeological metaphors are antiquated, "artifacts are proof of existence." The narcissitic characteristics of Jonathan are muddled.  The acting was mostly disappointing.  Harper's accent comes & goes as he plays his part with buffoonery.  Bamberry is incredulous as the self-absorbed artist & egomaniac.  Donahue had a glimmer of spark as she painted her character with a tepid hue of affrontery & regret.  I regret the 2nd act remained sight unseen as I didn't deem it worth seeing.