By Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell
Directed by Matt Pfeiffer
Playhouse on Park
2026
Set Designer: Patti Panyakaew
Costume Designer: KT Farmer
Lighting Designer: Johann Fitzpatrick
Sound Designer: Jeffrey Salerno
Props & Set Dressing: Judi Manfre
Stage Manager: Rebecca Donaghy
The play is based on the true story behind John D'Agata's essay "What Happens There", which examines the death of Levi Presley. It follows the ensuing debate between fact-checker Jim Fingal and D'Agata as they grapple with questions of journalistic integrity, creative license, and the value and lasting impaxt of fact-based narrative. Also central to the story is editor Emily Penrose, who mediates their conflict. Each character offers a distinct perspective, ultimately challenging what "truth" really means in creative reporting.
The set begins in the corporate world of a Manhattan office at a prominent magazine, then gradually transforms to reveal a home in Las Vegas--where the clash of fact-checking unfolds. The placement of each scenic element guides the flow of storytelling, reflecting the tension between narrative and facts, which is embedded in the floor grid as a central motif of The Lifespan of a Fact.
Kimolee Eryn - “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."
Zander Opper on Talkin' Broadway - “On Patti Panyakaew's versatile and attrative set...What keeps this show so compact and incisive is the high level of acting and the tightness of the direction."
Howard Steven Frydman - “We so enjoy when productions employ on set devises--in this case D'Agata prepares Maxwell House coffee. We watch as steam and aroma wafts throughout the theater, belaying any sense of Somnambula that may arise."
Photo Credits: Patti Panyakaew and Meredith Longo
Design Development