The Lifespan of a Fact - Playbill

by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell

September 8 - 26, 2021

Directed by Vanessa Severo

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STAFF

President

Producing Artistic Director Cynthia Levin Director of Finance Jason Kralicek Associate Artistic Director Ian R. Crawford Director of Marketing Nathan Gwartney Production Manager Taylor Jene Sullivan Technical Director Andy Peveler Literary Manager Hannah Taylor Box Office Manager Sarah Cooper Social Media Coordinator Anna Sell Production Stage Manager Tanya Brown Photography Cynthia Levin

Kevin Gabriel

Vice President

Carol Gee

Treasurer

Sally Everhardt Secretary

Kirsty Melville Winnie Dunn Cynthia Levin Paul Milakovich Michael Nonbello Kimberly Stern Annie Swartz Meredith Webster Shannon Wooten Amy Wright

UNICORN THEATRE’S MISSION Unicorn Theatre enhances the Kansas City community by developing and producing high-quality, thought-provoking plays that have never been seen in the region. We illuminate social issues by shining a light on diversity and inclusive stories which include race, religion and gender identity. Unicorn creates opportunities for the advancement of emerging and established actors, directors, playwrights, designers, technicians and administrative staff.

VISION STATEMENT By producing provocative new plays Unicorn Theatre fosters the next generation of great American writers and artists, creating innovative and intimate theatrical experiences that transcend the ordinary. We inspire the community to think and feel deeply; to see the world in new and different ways. Unicorn strives to be one of the preeminent homes for new plays in the country.

Opening Night September 11th, 2021

UNICORN THEATRE PRESENTS

by

Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and

Gordon Farrell Based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal Directed by Vanessa Severo THE CAST Emily Jim John

Peggy Friesen* Donovan Woods* Mark Robbins*

PRODUCTION TEAM Stage Manager Scenic/ Projection Designer Co - Lighting Designer Co – Lighting Designer Costume Designer Props Designer Sound Designer Asst. Projection Designer Dramaturg Scenic Painter Master Electrician Production Assistant

Tanya Brown* Em Swenson Rachael Cady Danny Lawrence Arwen White Eric Palmquist David Kiehl Jerry Mañan Raleigh Miller Kelli Harrod Taylor Sullivan Anna Sell

* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association

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 THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

3828 MAIN STREET | KANSAS CITY, MO 64111 | (816) 531-7529 | UNICORNTHEATRE.ORG

THIS PRODUCTION IS SPONSORED BY

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Gordon Farrell (PLAYWRIGHT) trained as a playwright at the Yale School of Drama, Gordon received an MFA in 1986 and went from there to work with major Hollywood studios, initially as a story analyst for Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures, and eventually as a screenwriter. He has written for hire and sold screenplays to Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers, MGM, and ITC. He has worked with Robert Simonds (producer of “The Wedding Singer,” “Molly’s Game,” “Mile 22”); Neal Moritz (producer of “XXX,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Fast and Furious”) and Bruce Berman (producer of “The Matrix,” “Three Kings,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”).

Working in independent film, Gordon has written for and sold projects to NYC indie producer Norman Twain (producer, “Lean on Me,” “Boycott,” “My Dog Tulip”).

Gordon’s first independent screenplay, “Girls Who Smoke,” premiered in 2011. It went on to be an official selection at over a dozen film festivals, ultimately winning the Audience Choice Award in Seattle at the Post Alley Film Festival. As a playwright, from 2009 to 2013, Gordon worked with dozens of women on New York’s Lower East Side who wanted to tell their personal stories on stage. The series of monologue plays that grew out of it was called IN THE RED ROOM/EVERY WOMAN DANCES FOR SOMEONE. In May 2019 the fully dramatized version, GIRLS WHO WALKED ON GLASS, played to SRO houses and rave reviews in Buffalo and is scheduled to transfer to New York City in 2020. His other plays have been produced in San Francisco, at the Alleyway Theatre, at the Yale School of Drama, and at Primary Stages in New York. He is the author of “The Power of the Playwright’s Vision,” published by Heinemann Press in 2001. It has been translated internationally and become a standard playwriting text at colleges and universities in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Jeremy Kareken (PLAYWRIGHT) Jeremy is a playwright living in New York and Baltimore. His short plays HOT ROD, BIG TRAIN, and 80 CARDS have been performed around the country and internationally. He served as a speech writer and policy analyst for two presidential campaigns. His awards include the Sewanee Conference’s Dakin Fellowship for FARBLONDJET, and Guthrie/Playwrights Center’s Two-Headed Challenge for THE SWEET SWEET MOTHERHOOD. The Hamptons Film Festival Screenwriters Conference selected Kareken and David Murrell for their horror-comedy script about haunted breast implants—“THESE! Conquered the Earth!” In 2018, PlayPenn shortlisted Jeremy’s new political satire about an illiterate king, THE RED WOOL. Born and raised in Rochester, New York, and a graduate of the University of Chicago, he has taught at NYU, NYIT, the Actors Studio Drama School, and currently teaches at the Acting Studio—New York. A lifetime member of The Actors Studio, Jeremy occasionally acts and for 18 years served as the researcher for Bravo TV’s “Inside the Actors Studio.”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS David Murrell (PLAYWRIGHT) David Murrell was born and raised in New York City.

He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the University of Chicago, currently lives in Queens, and has written a sea chest’s worth of TV and film treatments and spec scripts. Access Theater (NYC) and the Cleveland Public Theatre each produced his play DUCTWORK and the Hamptons Film Festival Screenwriters Conference selected his and Jeremy Kareken’s feature screenplay about haunted breast implants, “THESE! Conquered the Earth.” In 2019, the Outer Critics Circle coawarded David its John Gassner Playwriting Award for THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Cynthia Levin (PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is in her 42st season with the Unicorn. Over the years she has served as a director, actor, designer or producer for over 300 productions. At the Unicorn, she recently directed Bernhardt/Hamlet, Bond, Vietgone, Chesapeake, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert: The Musical (co-directed with Missy Koonce), Eclipsed, Hand to God, Heathers: The Musical (again, with Missy), The Oldest Boy, Women Playing Hamlet (world premiere), Bad Jews, Grounded, Venus in Fur, My Name is Asher Lev, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Soul Collector (world premiere), Hungry (world premiere), Red, Two Jews Walk Into A War…, Distracted, Green Whales (world premiere), Miss Witherspoon, My First Time, The Clean House, Mauritius, 9 Parts of Desire, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Bat Boy: The Musical and additionally the world premieres of rightnextto me (both at the Unicorn and Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, NY), How His Bride Came to Abraham, Light:Damage, Mercy Killing, Innocent Thoughts and Jack and Jill. At Coterie Theatre, she has directed Number the Stars, And Then They Came for Me, Frankenstein, Gatherings in Graveyards (I and II), Valley Song and To Kill A Mockingbird. At the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., she directed readings of Occupants, In The Belly Of The Whale, The Friendship Of Her Thighs, The Last Pair Of Earlies, Tigers Be Still and White Devil and Loving Mother for the MFA Playwright’s Workshop. Cynthia is a graduate of Park University which also awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in 2002. She is a founding board member of the National New Play Network, an organization dedicated to the development and production of new works. She has been honored with the Pinnacle Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award and most recently the Kathryn V. Lamkey Award from the Actors’ Equity Association for her ongoing commitment to inclusion and diversity. She shares her home with Zia (the beagle), Dodger (the cat) and the spirit of the big red dog, Sylvia.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Vanessa Severo (DIRECTOR) was last seen on the Unicorn Stage in The Revolutionists. She has directed for Spinning Tree Theatre ,The University of Missouri Kansas City (Graduate program and Undergraduate), as well as Egads Theatre. She is the playwright and actor of Frida...A Self Portrait (2020 Kilroys List) a one woman production about the tumultuous and brilliant life of Frida Kahlo.

She has studied at Missouri State University, as well as The American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, and is the recipient of the TCG 11th Round of the Fox Foundation resident Actor Fellowships, 2017. Vanessa would like to thank Cynthia Levin and the entire team of the Unicorn Theatre for this beautiful, and momentous opportunity.

Peggy Friesen (EMILY) Peggy is excited to be returning to live theatre and specifically to the Unicorn Theatre, where previous credits include A Clean House, Frozen, Spinning into Butter, Aunt Dan and Lemon, and W;t. She has been a member of the local theatre community for over 40 years and has been fortunate to work steadily during that time.

Some of her favorite productions include The Cripple of Inishmaan, A Lesson From Aloes, and The Mousetrap (KCAT); The Year of Magical Thinking (The Living Room/ Spinning Tree Theatre); The Little Foxes (American Heartland Theatre); Our Town, Angels in America, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Fantasticks, The Curious Adventures of the Dog in the Night-Time, and The House of Blue Leaves (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). Film credits include Ride With the Devil (Ang Lee), Kansas City (Robert Altman), and King of the Hill (Stephen Soderberg). A classically trained musician, Peggy plays Concert and Irish harp in the Brookside home she shares with husband, Royal Scanlon.

Mark Robbins (JOHN) Mark Robbins returns to the Unicorn stage as an actor, his previous appearance being in My Name is Asher Lev. Unless he’s mistaken about that—it’s been a minute. He has worked extensively as an actor and director for the last 40 years for virtually every theatre company in the greater Kansas City area. Except Starlight, from whom he expects to hear any moment now. He is one of the founding members of Kansas City Actors Theatre, for whom he did actually work—from home—during the pandemic, playing criminal kingpin Joey Giovanni in their serialized audio play Kansas City 1924, written by Forrest Attaway. He is pleased to leave his home recording studio (read: bedroom closet) and revisit the world of live theatre.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM Donovan Woods (JIM) Donovan is grateful to return to the stage with his KC family. He recently appeared as Daz in the virtual produc<on of Kill Move Paradise.

Previously he made his New York debut as Esu in Feast: A Yoruba Project with Vineyard Entertainment! His past roles include Between the Lines (Ryan) A Raisin in the Sun (George Murchison), A Christmas Carol (Topper) at Kansas City Repertory Theater. The Brothers Size (Oshoosi Size) at Unicorn Theater and Hairspray at Starlight Theatre. www.donovantyrone.com

Tanya Brown (STAGE MANAGER) is in her fifteenth season with Unicorn Theatre.

Some of her all-time favorites have been The Revolutionists, Venus in Fur, Hand to God, Cock, Stupid F##king Bird, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Em Swenson (SCENIC/PROJECTION DESIGNER) Recently at Unicorn, Em was the scenic designer for Babel, Who’s Your Baghdaddy, Nomad Motel, The Effect and The Revolutionists; lighting designer for Sweat and Chesapeake; and projection designer for A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Bond. Em recently earned a Master of Public Administration degree at UMKC. Rachael Cady (CO - LIGHTING DESIGNER) Rachael is happy to be back at the Unicorn where she once served as the Resident Lighting Designer and on the staff of the theatre. Her affiliation with the theatre began in 1994 and since then she has designed over 50 shows for the Unicorn. She also helped to design and create the Jerome Theatre before she left the theatre to become a freelancer full time.

Rachel’s designs have been seen all over the world including China, Korea, India, Canada and Mexico. Regionally Rachael has designed at the KC Rep, Seattle Rep, Portland Center Stage, Arizona Rep and The Alley Theatre to name a few. Rachael calls Kansas City home and lives here with her partner Margaret and their 3 dogs Cassie, Tessa and Harley.

Taylor Sullivan (PRODUCTION MANAGER/MASTER ELECTRICIAN) Taylor is incredibly enthusiastic to work as the Production Manager for Unicorn Theatre.

Taylor came to the Unicorn as an Electrician and has since worked as a Production Assistant and Scenic Painter for multiple shows. Taylor is a Kansas City native, but from the Kansas side. Outside of theater, Taylor has a passion for dinosaurs and baking from scratch. She is excited to see what comes in the next plays, musicals, and seasons, as everyone has a story to be told.

THE CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM David Kiehl (SOUND DESIGNER) is excited to be back at the Unicorn where he has worked as sound designer for over 50 productions. Previous Unicorn productions date back to 1997 and include Sylvia, The Laramie Project, and Proof; more recently they include American Son, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Who’s Your Baghdaddy, The Revolutionists. You may have heard his work around town at KCAT (‘night, Mother, A Doll’s House), the Living Room (Milking Christmas, The Ballad of Lefty and Crabbe) and over 100 productions at the Coterie (Electric Poe, Puffs, Elephant and Piggy).

Arwen White (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a Kansas City based designer and founder of Juste Jaquet Designs, a local textile and fine art company. She has designed theatrically throughout the city on productions including The Revolutionists, Sweat, The Mountaintop, My Name is Asher Lev - Unicorn Theatre, Chainsaw - Living Room Theatre, Gruesome Playground Injuries - Fishtank Theatre. She is an Entertainment Contractor for Norwegian Cruise Line, stitching for Burn the Floor, Paradise, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Band on the Run. A Teaching Artist throughout Kansas City she is loving the opportunity to help young artists grow and explore through theatre and design.

Eric Palmquist (PROPS DESIGNER) is a graduate of the University of Kansas theatre program and a founding member of Terra Femina Collective. Recent work includes American Son, Babel, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Baghdaddy, The Revolutionists, The Humans (Unicorn), Caroline, or Change, Every Brilliant Thing, Billy Elliot (Spinning Tree), and A Moon for the Misbegotten (KCAT). An AEA member, he was last seen in Viper (Terra Femina) and Nomad Motel (Unicorn), and has performed with the Coterie, the Living Room, Equity Actors Reader Theatre, the MET, and the Buffalo Room.

Raleigh Miller (DRAMATURG) currently raises money for United Way of Greater Kansas City. Prior to that he raised money for Unicorn Theatre for a time. Prior to that he spent some years studying philosophy at Georgia State and Ohio State, studying epistemological questions pertaining to truth and knowledge. Some years prior to that he majored in theatre (and other things) at Drake University. Prior to that he visited Unicorn Theatre for the first time to see The Laramie Project on September 11th 2001. So the chance to be a part of this production team brings together a number of his own storylines, embellished though they may be, and he’s pretty grateful for that.

Anna Sell (PRODUCTION ASSISTANT) While this is Anna’s first show at Unicorn Theatre, she is no stranger to Kansas City, being a KC native herself. She received her BFA in Theatre from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln Nebraska.

Favorite credits include Tribes, Crimes of the Heart, Nell Gwynn, and Bridges of Madison County. Anna also enjoys teaching theatre to kids at Coterie Theater and Summit Theatre Group.

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG In 2002, a young man, Levi Presley, jumped off a building in Las Vegas. A coroner’s report was filed, which included the basic facts of the event; the name of the victim, time of death, etc. Years later, a writer named John D’agata wrote an essay about Presley’s suicide. In that essay, D’agata paints an indicting portrait of alienation in modern America. Unlike the coroner’s report, however, D’agata felt no loyalty to facts. Some details – narrated as if they were unassuming stipulations – were fabrications. This led to an extended dialogue between D’agata and young fact-checker, Jim Fingal.

The exchange between D’agata and Fingal became a book, The Lifespan of a Fact.

That book became a play – the play you’re seeing tonight. The book is a wonder for anyone who relishes in editorial design. D’agata’s essay is reproduced, bit by bit, in the center of the page, surrounded by vast oversized margins. Those margins are filled with smaller-text reproductions of edits and errors to reflect Fingal’s factchecking, as well as transcripts of exchanges between Fingal and an increasingly irritated D’agata. It’s a stark recording of a true-life conflict between artistry and accuracy.

Except it’s not. While collaborating on the book, Fingal and D’agata compiled emails and editorial records, but they also relied on their memories. In interviews, they admitted that the “Jim” and “John” characters in the book were mildly fictionalized versions of themselves. Certain conflicts were exaggerated or embellished to be more interesting. Neither is sure whether John actually called Jim a “dickhead.” Lifespan of a Fact is formatted to look like a historical record. But it’s been manipulated to achieve D’agata and Fingal’s thematic goals. Readers should debate whether and how that’s different from D’agata’s treatment of Levi Presley’s death.

The script The Lifespan of a Fact, by Karaken & Murrell and Farrell is a fictionalization of a book, which is a caricature of an exchange over an essay, which is an embellished recounting of a real-life event and its surrounding circumstances. Vanessa Severo’s production and the actors’ performances add further layers of pretense and interpretation. And yet everyone that has contributed to this sequence believes their task is to reveal truth, to which facts are a gateway.

This might place us in perilous territory. Misinformation and fake news are growing into destructive social malignancies. In this context, Fingal the factchecker may seem like a heroic figure, standing up to chicanery.

But before we feel so righteous, we may also consider that interpretive manipulation is inevitable. It is fundamental to how we communicate that we sometimes disregard facts to make way for truth.

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG Perhaps every text, down to a coroner’s report, is fundamentally an exercise in interpretation. We are always engaged in two projects at once – that of understanding the world as it is, and that of imposing our own narrative on the world as we experience it. The conflict between D’agata and Fingal is a tension felt by every storyteller – between the responsibility to reflect the world and the impulse to create it.

Raleigh Miller September 2021

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR UNICORN THEATRE THIS SEASON HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY:

AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

Unicorn Theatre is a constituent of Actors’ Equity Association; Theatre Communications Group, Inc.; The National New Play Network; Missouri Citizens for the Arts; The Downtown Council; Main Street Development Corporation; Nonprofit Connect; Urban Core Group; and The Kansas City Convention and Visitors Bureau.