Review: THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT at TimeLine Theatre

These days, truth is elusive — and Timeline Theatre’s THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT plays with that idea. It’s the age of endless fact-checking resources on the internet, but also the age of misinformation spread across TikTok, Reddit, and other social media. Wherein lies the truth? And what is accurate? Sometimes, it’s hard to say. THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT meditates on that theme.

Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell’s play (based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal) is a tidy exploration of “truthiness.” On one side, the play introduces Jim Fingal (Alex Benito Rodriguez), a proverbially “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” recent Harvard graduate assigned to fact check a potentially groundbreaking essay for THE OPTIMIST, a fictional New York-based magazine. The essay’s subject? Levi Presley’s death by suicide; he’s a young man who jumped from the Straosphere in Las Vegas. On the other side, we have the essay’s writer, the caustic John D’Agata (TimeLine Artistic Director PJ Powers). He has a fondness for bending the facts in pursuit of literary resonance. The referee between the two parties? Editor Emily Penrose (Juliet Hart), who wants to appease John but also doesn’t want the magazine to be sued for negligence. 

Though THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT concerns itself with the argument about how much the facts matter, it’s obviously a fictitious account of real events (how meta). That’s certainly clever, and I think the layers therein reflect what works about the play. It’s a smart, entertaining play, but the ultimate argument isn’t that deep. Though the essay “What Happens There” (published in real-life in a magazine called THE BELIEVER; not hard to see what the playwrights did there) is supposedly a work of literary genius, this play is conventionally structured. The three-way exchange between the characters has neatly drawn lines, even if the play’s ambiguous ending indicates there’s not necessarily a “right” answer. 

While Jim and John are, in fact, real people, the play presents them as archetypes. It’s an obvious battle of wits between a bright budding journalist and a seasoned, cynical writer. The contrast between the characters is clear and predictable. Luckily, director Mechelle Moe leads the actors to find emotional integrity, even when the play structure feels too neat. Rodriguez plays Jim with aplomb, nicely toeing the line between eager-to-please and steadfast in his principles. He indicates that Jim’s not as naive as he might first appear, and he’s a ruthless defender of his 130 pages of fact-checked notes for a 15-page essay. Powers has a certain gravitas as John, playing the character as simultaneously firm and adrift. Hart likewise has a nice handle on Emily; she has a grounded, powerful presence, but she adds just enough harried underneath to demonstrate that Emily doesn’t have all the answers. 

While John’s essay deals with weighty subject matter, THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT is considerably lighter — though it has, necessarily, touches of darkness. Still, while the fundamental question of truth is central to the play’s core, it’s not necessarily a hard-hitting piece. It has enjoyable performances, though, and it’s always interesting to ponder what, precisely, constitutes the “truth.” And, indeed, in presenting a fictionalized version of real-life events, THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT itself asks audiences to take away their own reactions and conclusions from an intentionally constructed, not entirely true artwork. 

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT runs through December 23, 2023 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 West Wellington. Tickets are $52-$67.