Little Liberties: The Lifespan of a Fact Review

Edward Montoya as Jim Fingal in The Lifespan of a Fact at Playhouse on Park

Playhouse on Park hosts the semantic stand-off that is Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell’s The Lifespan of a Fact. The production, directed by Matt Pfeiffer, pulls audiences into a battle between the prose and the particulars of the case of Levi Presley, a 16-year-old who met his untimely end at a Vegas casino in 2002. It interrogates our commitment to veracity and asks whether we would like to be pacified by the prose of our realities or be pinched by the precision of its details.

Jim Fingal (Edward Montoya) is an eager intern, looking to make his mark as a fact checker working under Emily Penrose (Suzanne O’Donnell), the head of a top literary magazine. Jim’s fact-checking assignment with a tight turnaround spirals out of control at the intersection of Jim’s overanalytical brain and the author’s penchant for not letting “the wrong facts get in the way of a story.” Based on the true story of John D’Agata’s (Shannon Michael Wamser) essay on Levi Presley and the details surrounding his death, Jim and John face off in what can be described as a battle between head and heart. Jim is partial to the facts, highlighting the need for quantitative accuracy and adherence to the evidence, while John’s writing style betrays a flair for qualitative embellishments. Emily, with the burden of the magazine’s integrity on her shoulders, referees the showdown in an effort to find common ground before the sunrise deadline.

Wamser nails the arrogance of acclamation with a sprinkle of literary pomp that makes D’Agata hilariously insufferable. Wamser’s portrayal creates a bridge of understanding between the internalized arrogance of the praised and the silently corrosive nature of the ego-driven.

O’Donnell carries the authority of Penrose, a commanding presence delivering the nuances of leadership with pragmatic elasticity. And at just the right moments, the armor loosens, subtly revealing a vulnerability that reveals a deeper truth without fully breaking.  

Montoya’s precision in the emotional deconstruction of Fingal—once put together, exuding the confidence of his Crimson past, as he unravels alongside his respect for the institution of journalism as he once knew it—is a masterclass in choreographed emotional disintegration.

Patti Panyakaew’s scenic design of the magazine’s offices denotes an air of prominence while D’Agata’s Las Vegas home offers a less buttoned up atmosphere. The contrast of the sets and the sequence of their use in the unfolding of the story makes statements of its own—it suggests that the work of journalism, as serious as it is, is less of a product of posh office spaces and more of a dalliance between the vulnerability of home and all of the spaces where the stories being covered actually unfold.

Levi’s story unfolds in Jim’s gallivanting around town and casually catching a flight to follow the details of the story. It unfolds through the shift from the office to John’s home, in a proverbial tie-loosening, rolling-up-the-sleeves move that abandons the conventions of professionalism in an attempt to get to the heart of the matter.

Sound designer Jeffrey Salerno describes a process of creating a piece, built on “variations of the same simple melody,” reminiscent of the fast-paced, just shy of frantic environment of a New York magazine office. This geometric sound design, this sonic fractal, underscores the emotional storytelling beneath the actors' nuanced deliveries, adding layers of storytelling that beautifully complement the primary narrative.

There is a story pouring from every seam of this production. It pulls audiences in with heart and humor, asking them to pick a side—precision or prose? Or if there are more options than what was given. It also calls on audiences to reflect on how the play’s themes resonate with current events in our world.

The Lifespan of a Fact runs through May 3rd. For tickets, visit https://www.playhouseonpark.org/