Donald Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954. He grew up in Trump Village, a Coney Island, middle-class Jewish community. His father, who sold wallpaper in Brooklyn for a living, loved plays and movies and took his family to Broadway shows almost religiously. Margulies saw his first Broadway play at the age of nine. "Religion was show business," he said in a conversation with Elizabeth Farnsworth of PBS' News Hour with Jim Lehrer. "We didn't go to synagogue, but we went to see Hello, Dolly."

Margulies attended Pratt Art Institute and then transferred to the State University of New York at Purchase, where he attained a B.F.A. in visual arts. For a time he supported himself as a graphic designer and a comedy writer before turning his full attention to playwriting. Margulies wrote several plays, which were all produced (but with little fanfare...