The Fountain Theatre presents the West Coast premiere of the Broadway hit play, The Lifespan of a Fact, written by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell. Directed by Simon Levy.
What is fake news? Where do journalists draw a line between facts and a good story? In The Lifespan of a Fact, Jim Fingal (Jonah Robinson) is a young intern who has to fact check the essay written by famous author John D’Agata (Ron Bottitta, Wakings!). The essay is the the story of a young men who jumped to his death from a building in Las Vegas. The editor, Emily Penrose (Inger Tudor) needs to have the essay ready for publishing within a few days.
Fingal, a Harvard graduate, is overtly meticulous and starts to find a handful of inaccuracies in D’Agata’s essay. What happens next is a series of hilarious situations that show Fingal’s obsession with minute details and D’Agata’s tendency to twist the facts to fit his rhythm.
The play focuses on the competitive world of journalism, where the accuracy of information might be a suggestion and not the rule. Penrose expresses the pressure from investors, advertisers, and the diminishing readership in general as a determining factor to approve stories on her magazine. Penrose and D’Agata are characters that capture the complicated relationship between the interests of the owners of the media and the ethics of a journalist.
In the play, D’Agata’s essay is a metaphor of spin and cherry picking, tactics used to make the story more appealing. In a larger context, those tactics are used by governments and corporations to influence public opinion and advance their own interests. In a society where freedom of speech is paramount, the information relayed to the public can be easily manipulated to deceive or serve particular agendas. Rafael Correa, the former president of Ecuador, once said: “Since the invention of the printing press, the freedom of the press is dictated by the will of the owner of the printing press”. The characters in the play portray that conflictive triangle of freedom of speech, media business interests, and journalism as an elemental tenet of truth.
The Lifespan of a Fact is a captivating play that makes us take a closer look at the avalanche of information to which we are exposed. Media interests, personal opinions, personal experiences, and ethics are all displayed on stage in an entertaining and thought-provoking theatrical experience.
The Lifespan of a Fact
The Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave.
Los Angeles CA 90029
(Fountain at Normandie)
Performances: February 18 – April 2
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: March 3; March 10; March 17; March 24; March 31
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Feb. 18 (opening); March 4; March 11; March 18; March 25; April 1
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: March 5; March 12; March 19; March 26; April 2
• Mondays at 8 p.m.: March 6; March 20; March 27 (dark March 13)
Tickets: fountaintheatre.com
Written by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell. Based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal. Directed by Simon Levy. Starring Ron Bottitta, Jonah Robinson, and Inger Tudor. Presented by The Fountain Theatre.
The creative team includes scenic designer Joel Daavid, lighting designer Alison Brummer, sound designer Marc Antonio Pritchett, costume designer Michael Mullen, video designer Nicholas Santiago and properties designer Joyce Hutter. The production stage manager is Hannah Raymond. Stephen Sachs and James Bennett produce for the Fountain Theatre.
