Unlike minds ponder "The Lifespan of a Fact" at Playhouse on Park

As theater unquestionably offers food for thought, consider Playhouse on Park's current production of "The Lifespan of a Fact" a smorgasbord of ideas.

Three characters, fact-checker Jim Fingal (Edward Montoya), New York editor Emily Penrose (Suzanne O’Donnell) , and writer John D'Agata (Shannon Michael Wamser) have different views concerning the veracity of a nonfiction piece about an in-depth retrospective of a suicide victim named Levi Presley, who took an elevator 1149 feet up the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas and jumped off a ledge.

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Each offers a different course - their pot-sticking points to the epistemological question of what exactly is truth in creative reporting. They are, surprisingly, brought to the same table ( or more accurately couch) in the writer's equally surprising humble apartment, just hours before the piece's publication deadline. Editor Emily seeks a credible essay that will sell. The high-recognition writer argues poetic license affords him some creative leeway to achieve the emotional truth of the event. Intern fact-checker Jim, a recent Harvard grad, approaches his "make or break" assignment like a Sgt.Joe Friday from Dragnet, with an uncompromising "just the facts, ma'am" mentality - a perspective that separates like vinegar from the writer's oily pitch.

Note,the story is true - kind of - based on an actual seven-year controversy about an essay by John D'Agata before finally being rejected by Harper's Magazine - followed by another five years of fact-checking by the play's Jim Fingal at The Believer magazine. Though the original essay never saw the light of the printed page, the Fingal review resulted in the publication of the tense, 100+ page mark-up of revisions and arguments about the nature of emotional truth vs lies, bandied between essayist D'Agata and fact-checker Fingal regarding the Vegas suicide.
The play, based on that book of the same name and written by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell, shrinks the debate into a weekend encounter of the three literary professionals, which makes for an awful lot of polemics to be discussed in an unrealistic bit of time. That said, all three actors wage their war over word choice and creative license with passion, albeit some shoving, shouting, speechifying, and smidges of humor.

Few, if any, in the audience of director Matt Pfeiffer's simple treatment of the disagreement would fan the heated argument about whether a brick wall is red or brown, as author and fact checker stoke the issue on stage . But the question of the writer's reinvention of the means of another Vegas suicide recorded the same day as Levi Presley's, raises eyebrows for sure. And though the play ends mid-argument, the folks at Playhouse on Park keep the controversy alive by inviting the audience to weigh in on whether or not the essay should be published on a whiteboard while exiting.

And that isn't all. The theater has cooked up a dessert of sorts to the production's main course. On April 28 at 7 p.m., Playhouse on Park is holding a panel titled “Panel Discussion: When Creativity Clashes with Fact: How do you know when the truth is true?” that will tackle “Lifespan of a Fact’s”dilemma. Panelists include columnist/radio host Colin McEnroe; political reporter/literary journalist Amanda J. Crawford (who teaches at UConn), Bruce Putterman, the CEO and publisher of CT Mirror; and two professors from Western Connecticut State University, Mary Collins (who teaches creative writing/nonfiction) and Matt Warshauer (whose field is history). Admission to the panel is free. Seats can be reserved by calling the box office at (860)523-5900.

“Lifespan of a Fact” runs through May 3 at Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, Hartford. Performances are Tuesday at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. $45-$55, $42.50-$52.50 seniors and students and military. playhouseonpark.org.