By Jennifer Mustoe
The Lifespan of a Fact, playing now at the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, is a piece that will give you a lot to think about. By Jeremy Karenken, David Murrel, and Gordon Farrel, based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal, Lifespan is a study on what is real and what is truth and what is fact in news. What is factual? What makes news? What tells stories? Is there any real truth? And how much fact is necessary when writing a story about a real event? These are the questions this interesting and relevant play addresses.
Director Wes Grantom has Lifespan clipping along, which is necessary as there is no intermission. His actors: John Kroft playing fact-checker Jim Fingal, Ben Cherry playing author John D’Agata, and Constance Macy playing magazine Editor Emily Penrose work as an amazing team as they weave the story. John wrote a piece that Emily wants to publish in her magazine. It’s a brilliant piece that will bring real fame to the magazine. Emily asks intern Jim to check the facts of the story because John can often fictionalize details for effect. Emily is unprepared for how thorough Jim is in his fact-checking, to the point that Jim flies from NYC to Vegas to check out each fact in the story (are the bricks brown or red? Jim says brown but author John says red), and this diligent fact-checker ends up going to the author’s house to ask him questions on each tiny piece of the story. Though it could get tedious, director and actors keep this fresh, entertaining, and tight.
The set, by Jo Winiarski, is wonderful. Two settings–Emily’s office, and John’s (mother’s) house. Each are bright and clean and look functional (the office) and cozy (the house). I especially liked the couch in the mother’s house. Costumes by Susan Branch Towne are also functional (in the office) and cozy (in Emily’s house) and cool (on Jim)–depending on the scenes. Lighting Design by Michael Gilliam is especially effective as each scene is click–black out–then starts again, all through the play. It moves the piece quickly, but those few seconds of darkness give us time to think. For me, it was also metaphorical, as we delve deeper into what is fact? What facts are important and which ones can we delete? Should we delete what doesn’t work? Should we change it so the story flows better? The darkness had meaning for me, not just the necessary switching of scenes.
Each actor has an important role to play as they represent something. Editor Emily is Success–in this case in the world of publishing, and is the Voice of Reason between the two bickering men. She wants a great piece for the magazine, but how many facts can be “doctored” before it becomes fiction? Macy is tough, smart, succinct, and very, very patient. I loved her affect with the two completely opposite men. Macy’s mannerisms are powerful but professional and I liked her a lot. I live in her shoes and probably don’t do half as good a job as she does. Author John–representing Art–could be very much devoted to only art above facts, but Cherry plays him with a groundedness I liked a great deal. The character could easily become a braggart, but Cherry gives John so much humanity and humor, which I loved. Fact-checker Jim is just. so. anal. Hoping to get a better job in the company, he goes overboard with his fact checking, but Kroft gives Jim a fun, eager, young vibe that keeps the character engaging and not annoying. We want Jim’s dedication to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to ring true. We want him to win! Kroft is a talented actor who keeps Jim completely authentic, so much so I hope I never have to work with someone that detailed!
I did a short interview with playwright Jeremy Karenken who said: “You’re still going to have facts often take a backseat to any number of issues that detract from accuracy. You will still have someone presenting the information through their own filter – artistic in this case, but also through their very fallible memory, through their editorial choices, through their perspective. Eye witness testimony is terrible – we are not accurate creatures.” This is the essence of the play–and why I like it so much.
Sometimes funny, but always thought-provoking, The Lifespan of a Fact puts everything under a microscope in a way that gave me a lot to think about. On a personal note, those who follow Front Row Reviewers probably know that our tag is Celebrating the GOOD in the Arts. I found myself thinking as I sat in the audience–what do facts mean in the context of our mission? If we only promote the good, is the truth doctored to omit the negative? Are we telling the full story? Are we keeping the truth from our readers? Our staff, ranging from seasoned board members to novice reviewers, has discussed these matters on numerous occasions and the fact is that in looking for the good, we don’t include ALL the facts about a production. What we have concluded was one of the topics we discussed at the round table with Salt Lake locals in the media business–we are giving all the facts but with a definite purpose to “teach” our readers how to see what’s good in a production or performance. Is this the truth? Do we have an agenda? Is this a good idea? Are we being fair? We believe the answer is the same for each of these question: yes. But The Lifespan of a Fact did give me a lot to think about in a very personal and professional way.
With a few swears, it isn’t a kids’ show, and the topics (suicide, truth vs fact vs reality) are probably too heavy for anyone under mid- to late-teens. I would highly recommend this show to anyone who follows today’s “unusual” news reporting and would especially encourage anyone who wants to go into journalism to attend this production. But The Lifespan of a Fact is a show that everyone can benefit from, as it gives us an opportunity to ask: what does factual mean to me? What is truth? What is reality? And–does what I’m reading contain any of these things? Come to the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City and see the show that can give you an opportunity to look inward about these issues for yourself.
Pioneer Theatre Company and Fox 13 News Presents The Lifespan of a Fact. Book by Peter Colley, Music and Lyrics by Robert Creighton and Christopher McGovern.
Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Sep 20-Oct 5, 2019, see website for show times
Tickets
Contact: (801) 581-6961
Pioneer Theatre Company Facebook Page
Fox 13 News Facebook Page
The Lifespan of a Fact Facebook Event
After the show, we were invited to attend a Round Table with Fox13’s Ben Winslow, KUER’s Andrew Becker, and Salt Lake Tribune’s Bethany Rodgers, moderated by Utah’s Poet Laureate and essayist Paisley Rekdal. The discussion after the show was very interesting, and questions from the audience were timely and provocative. Lifespan clearly got a lot of people thinking, and few audience members left after the show.
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