Program: The Lifespan of a Fact

M O N TA LV O A R T S C E N T E R PRESENTS

J U LY 2 7- 2 9 , 2 0 2 2

The Lifespan of a Fact By

Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and

Gordon Farrell Based on the book by

John D’Agata and Jim Fingal Directed By

Jeffrey Lo Cast

Maria Marquis Tony Ortega Wallace Yan Stage Manager

Aya Matsutomo Costume Consultant

Jennifer Lo

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT was originally produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Norman & Deanna Twain, Will Trice, Barbara H. Freitag, Suzanne Grant, Gold/Ross Productions, Jamie deRoy, Jennifer Manocherian, Barbara Manocherian, ManGol Productions, Carl Moellenberg/Wendy Federman, Ken Greiner, Van Kaplan, Dominick LaRuffa Jr., Marc David Levine, WitzEnd Productions, Eric Falkenstein/Moreland Mott, Caiola Productions, Remmel T. Dickinson, & Jayne Baron Sherman

Welcome to Play on the Grounds!

Play on the Grounds is Montalvo’s series of live staged readings of theatrical plays. These readings are the perfect marriage of the beauty of Montalvo with the excitement of live theatre in its purest form. Unlike a full production, a staged reading strips theatrical convention down to the bare essentials of engaging storytelling: performers and text. You can expect riveting stories read by actors with minimal staging. Get ready to immerse yourself in an unforgettable analog experience!

A Note from Director Jeffrey Lo: “I’m not interested in accuracy, I’m interested in truth.”

When preparing to work on The Lifespan of a Fact, this line from the character of John D’Agata really stuck out at me. What is the difference between facts and the truth? Is there a difference? Is it actually possible that while facts are the truth, the truth can sometimes live outside of the facts? It’s a particularly interesting question for a artists and storytellers like myself who might start the a real life moment as the basis of creation but won’t think twice when making a tweak here or there for the sake of dramatic tension, raised stakes or… more emotional truth.

These questions take on another level of irony when putting up this script which is itself based on a true story. But that true story was turned into a book which was then turned into this script by playwrights who explicitly state that they took dramatic liberties with the story.

It might sound ridiculous to say there is a difference between the facts and the truth but I can’t help but believe that there is a truth greater than what facts can offer to us. To me, that’s what you call art. But what do we lose, when we lose our grip on facts? The ceiling may be raised for the emotional truth we can tap into but the depths of how the wrong people can take advantage of the wrong words is perhaps even more terrifying.

Play on the Grounds is made possible through generous support provided by

Cathie and Jeff Thermond

About the Cast Maria Marquis has been acting in the Bay Area since 2008, and is a theatre and voiceover actor, as well as corporate trainer committed to making work less boring. She is the recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s Best Principal Actress award for her work in the world premiere production of The Awakening with Breadbox Theater, and she has appeared numerous times with Dragon Productions and City Lights Theater Company where she received a nomination for Best Principal Actress in The Merchant of Venice and Silent Sky. You can learn more about Maria at mariagmarquis. com, and find her audiobooks on Audible.

Tony Ortega is honored to work with Montalvo’s Play on the Grounds. Tony is a San Francisco-based artist and has performed throughout the Bay Area, helping new works come to life, including Alter Theatre’s Ghosts of Bogota, Gary Soto’s The Afterlife, and this fall, Jeffrey Lo’s new play Zac and Sia or Jesus in a Body Bag at Custom Made Theatre Co. Tony has understudied at the San Francisco Playhouse in Jessica Huang’s The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin. Additional theatre credits include Anton Well’s Knives in Hens and Coastal Repertory’s productions of Death of a Salesman and Native Gardens. Tony is a two-time Theatre Bay Area-nominated actor and was nominated for Best Leading Actor in the Broadway World Regional Awards for Pablo Del Valle in Native Gardens.

Tony wrote and co-directed Velorio, which premiered at PlaygroundSF. Tony Co-founded City Street Artists and is in residency at PlaygroundSF and will premiere a new play by cofounding Artist Linda Maria Giron. City Street Artists thrives to bring live theatre to underserved communities.

Wallace Yan (they/them) is in awe of the beauty of Montalvo Arts Center’s grounds! Bay Area born and raised, Wallace is a practicing theatre artist in performance, writing, and design. They are a recent addition to the San Francisco NeoFuturists ensemble, who perform 50 weekends out of the year! Their past credits include Touchstone in As You Like It (Island Shakespeare Festival) and Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (UC Irvine). They hold a BA in Drama with a minor in Queer Studies (UCI) and a AA in Technical Theatre (DVC).

Wallace resides in Berkeley with their loving spouse, Drew.

JOIN US FOR MORE

Putting it Together Words & Music by Stephen Sondheim August 17-19 • 6-7:30pm • Tickets $30 Sondheim’s songs staged in the setting of an art auction. This reimagined piece deconstructs stereotypes and is designed to showcase the talents of the five performers. It’s a celebration of Sondheim’s genius, humanity, humor, and pathos. tickets available at

montalvoarts.org/potg

UPCOMING EVENTS Sunset Cinema: Soul August 12 • 8:30pm • Tickets $13-18 We asked our Sunset Cinema audience which family film they’d like to see this year, and Soul was the winner!

After landing the gig of a lifetime, a New York jazz pianist suddenly finds himself trapped in a strange land between Earth and the afterlife in this inspiring, award-winning animated feature from Disney/Pixar. Featuring the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, and many others, along with the Oscar-winning music of jazz superstar Jon Batiste.

For tickets, visit montalvoarts.org/cinema.

Sunset Cinema: North By Northwest August 21 • 8pm • Tickets $13-18 In this Alfred Hitchcock classic, Cary Grant plays a New York City advertising executive who goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, all while falling for a woman — whose loyalties he soon begins to doubt.

For tickets, visit montalvoarts.org/cinema.

Open Mic Night August 23 • 6pm • Free!

Join us outdoors on Charmaine’s Garden Terrace for a fun and supportive evening of music, performance, and community. Whether you’re a first-time performer or an experienced artist, we encourage anyone interested in performing a song, instrument, comedy, poetry, spoken word, storytelling, etc. to sign up! Not interested in getting on stage? No problem—come for a fun evening and to support local artists. Open Mic is free to attend!

To RSVP and/or sign up as a performer (spaces are limited), visit montalvoarts.org/mic.

see our full calendar of events at

montalvoarts.org

ON VIEW

Claiming Space: Refiguring the Body in Landscape Now through October 15 The exhibition Claiming Space: Refiguring the Body in Landscape (on view through October 15) brings together a diverse array of works on loan and new commissions that explore the representation of the body as political studies, sites of vulnerability and exchange, formed in relation to forces of power and social expectations. In public, bodies of color, disabled bodies, female identifying, trans and non-binary bodies are policed and surveyed; while at the same time they are not typically represented in our shared civic spaces. The assembled works invite viewers to consider: What does it mean for our bodies to feel grounded and safe in public? To feel seen? To be represented? To belong?

For more information on the exhibition, visit montalvoarts.org/space.

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