I experienced an odd pang of guilt after watching a filmed version of Donald Margulies’ brilliant play “Collected Stories” on public television two years ago.

Here, I realized, was probably the best production I’d ever see of the near Pulitzer-winning play about an aging writing professor and the tenderly twisted relationship she shares with a protegé. I ached at the thought that this version — with Linda Lavin as the shrill, duplicitous and delightfully calculating professor of writing and Samantha Mathis her eager ingénue — had best articulated every nuance and beautiful dynamic called for in the script. All the actors’ choices made sense. For me any future production of the show would be tainted.

Which is why it’s such a shame I couldn’t watch the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company’s production of “Collected Stories” last weekend without measuring it against the televised one, which frankly isn’t fair to AJTC’s very fine, splendidly realized show.

Here’s the plot: Author Ruth Steiner (played by Janet Arnold) is a graduate school writing professor with a back catalog of fine short stories to her credit. The only one gone unwritten is the tale of her love affair with self-destructive poet Delmore Schwartz. Along comes wide-eyed student Lisa Morrison (Jessica Flowers), who grows over the years to become not only a writer-to-be-
reckoned-with but a dear friend to Ruth. When Lisa’s first collection of short stories is a success, she’s too blocked to create the sophomore work, a novel. But then she remembers Ruth’s stories about Delmore.

The buildup to the second act’s knock-down, drag-out argument over emotional plagiarism is a tour de force moment for anyone playing Ruth and Arnold does it great justice. She’s a wonder to observe.

It took me this, my fifth time with “Collected Stories,” to notice how every moment — every short story discussed between the two writers, every short incident — dovetails together into a thick quilt of Mobius strips. Watch the show realizing, like a fine short story, there are no words wasted and metaphors can be stronger than plain truths.

There’s one misstep in this otherwise beautiful production, though, in otherwise virtuosic director Elaine Moe allowing Lisa’s side of the argument too much credence, which isn’t supported in the play’s text. Because of that allowance, Flowers — still pretty engaging — saves up much of her mojo for going toe-to-toe with Arnold in the second act, which means her early moments in the play as a fawning fan aren’t fully realized.

“Collected Stories” isn’t a boxing match. It’s a predetermined pro wrestling brawl and Arnold's Ruth has got to win it every time.

Like Lisa, I've never been one to filter out my influences, so you'll excuse me if I can't get the televised version out of my head. First timers experiencing Margulies’ “Collected Stories” would do well to see AJTC’s production. Extremely well — it's a firecracker of a show.