Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays?
Two New Jukebox Musicals With Trouser Roles
by Don Shirley | March 26, 2012
LA theater companies that produce anything that might be called “non-fiction” should now
consider the case of Mike Daisey and act accordingly.
I refer, of course, to the oft-celebrated stage artist, who’s now more famous than ever because of a storm
of criticism for having fabricated or lied about details in his monologue The Agony and the Ecstasy of
Steve Jobs, in which he attempts to expose the abuse of Chinese workers in Apple factories.
Mike Daisey in the New York Public Theater
production of "The Agony and the Ecstasy of
Steve Jobs"
1 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Daisey’s embellishments were discovered by a China-based reporter for public radio’s Marketplace, but
they became the fodder for a national discussion on public radio’s This American Life, which had
previously broadcast parts of Daisey’s monologue. On March 16, This American Life host Ira Glass
confronted Daisey on the air.
Before I get to my thoughts on whether or when LA producers should vet their material when presenting
“non-fiction,” let’s look at a couple developments in the Daisey story from this past weekend.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who had hosted Daisey on his show Up w/Chris Hayes when the storyteller was
promoting his Jobs production, delivered a reprimand Saturday. But Hayes did more than simply take
Daisey to task; he broadcast a much earlier statement by Daisey, from a Seattle radio and podcast
interview by Luke Burbank, in which Daisey had offered a very articulate argument against the kind of
manipulation he used in the Jobs story.
Daisey had issued a somewhat limited apology on his blog early last week. But after he was reminded
by Hayes of his words from last May in the Burbank interview, he wrote a much more thorough mea
culpa on his blog yesterday.
It’s worth quoting Daisey’s words from the Burbank interview:
Mike Daisey in the New York Public Theater
production of "The Agony and the Ecstasy of
Steve Jobs"
“The facts are your friends, like if there’s ever a case where I’m telling the story and I find the facts are
2 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
inconvenient nine times out of 10 it means I haven’t thought about the story deeply enough. I really
believe in this because the world is more complex and more interesting than my imagination…You have
so many tools on stage as a storyteller. Like, any time you want something to happen, you don’t have to
pretend it happened and lie, you can use a flight of fancy, you can say, ‘I imagine what this must look
like.’ You can say anything and you can go in whatever direction you need to go, but be clear with the
audience…that at one moment you’re reporting the truth as literally it happened, and another case you’re
using hyperbole, and you just have to be really clear about when you’re using each tool.”
In his latest blog post from yesterday, after thanking Hayes for dredging up his own previous words,
Daisey acknowledged that he hadn’t lived up to his own standard.
Let’s also examine the responses from the East Coast theaters where Daisey had presented his Jobs
show. Early last week, after the story broke, New York Public Theater’s artistic director Oskar Eustis
said this:
Oskar Eustis
“We do not and cannot fact check our artists; we’re a theater, not a news organization. The vast majority
of what occurs on our stages is fiction. If we didn’t believe fiction could reveal truth, we would have to
give up our profession. With that said, it obviously matters a great deal to me that our audience
understands what they are seeing.”
3 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Then Eustis posted a somewhat tougher statement on the Public Theater website. And in response to
questions at a forum last Thursday on the subject, Eustis indicated “that the Public had checked the
veracity of other pieces of documentary-based theater during his tenure, but did not in the case of Mr.
Daisey’s show, a decision he said he regretted,” according to the New York Times.
At Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, where Daisey presented an earlier version of the show in
2010 that had been specifically labeled in the program as “non-fiction,” the company’s leaders also
issued a not-so-stern response at first but later toughened their response considerably. Judging from the
public comments that appeared on the theater’s blog, many of its customers still weren’t satisfied, but
the theater is hosting a free public forum on the subject Tuesday evening.
The controversy is red-hot at Woolly Mammoth because the theater had committed to presenting the
Jobs show again in July and is maintaining that commitment. However, the show presumably will be
quite altered from the version seen in New York (and in fact, it was altered at the final performance of
the New York run, which took place at the Public just after the story broke on This American Life).
The only time that Daisey has appeared publicly in LA, as far as I recall, was when he performed his
How Theater Failed America and The Last Cargo Cult under Center Theatre Group auspices at the Kirk
Douglas Theatre, in March 2009.
Mike Daisey in the 2009 Kirk Douglas Theatre
production of "How Theater Failed America"
Photo by Craig Schwartz
4 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
But this doesn’t mean that the Daisey story is of little relevance to LA producers who sometimes present
“non-fiction” material. I’ve seen many a show in LA that ostensibly dealt with real people, who were
mentioned by name, or material that was “based on a true story” with some real names used. In many of
these cases, after I leave the theater, I wonder just how accurate these scripts are, and whether the
real-life people who are mentioned in these stories would have told very different stories. Perhaps these
shows had been thoroughly vetted, but there was no way for the audience to know.
Often these shows are solos. By the very nature of solos, it’s harder to present many different viewpoints
on the same material. There are exceptions — solo artist Anna Deavere Smith presents many viewpoints
and goes out of her way to let the public know that her characters are based on actual recorded
interviews that are edited, of course, but more or less otherwise verbatim. But many a solo artist seems
to feel that the power of his or her personality should overwhelm any concerns we might feel about the
alternative ways in their stories might have been told.
I’m not going to name names here. Precisely because I haven’t personally fact-checked or seen any
reliable vetting of these artists’ work, I don’t want to cast aspersions on artists who may have stuck to
the facts, even though they didn’t provide any public assurances about it. The point at which questions
should be asked and facts should be checked is before – not after – the performance takes place.
So how should producers know whether and when to ask those questions?
Well, classics companies probably don’t have to worry about it. Nor do producers of shows that are very
obviously fantastical or otherwise fictional.
Of course there is such a thing as “historical fiction” in the theater as well as in novels. These narratives
sometimes mention real people and events from the past. Most of us have seen solo shows about
historical figures in which the premise of the show is fictional – the Great Person is reminiscing about
his or her life at an event that probably didn’t take place. But we’re supposed to believe everything that
the person says about himself or herself.
Producers — and perhaps dramaturges — should probably do at least a little of their own independent
research before they agree to present a script like this, just to make sure that the history isn’t being
mangled (and that the words aren’t being plagiarized from real historians or biographers – a
5 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
phenomenon that I discovered in one show that I reviewed for the LA Times, a long time ago).
But as the material gets closer to undiluted non-fiction, to the present day, to controversial issues and to
living people, producers should invest even more time and resources in vetting the script. I’ve always
assumed that major companies such as New York Public Theater and Center Theatre Group do this to a
certain extent, that they even run checks with libel lawyers as well as with less glorified fact-checkers if
the material is particularly inflammatory. But all of that is harder to do for lower-level producers and
companies – and of course, even the Public Theater’s exalted status didn’t prevent it from getting egg on
its face in the Daisey case.
A scene from the 2004 Colony Theatre
production of "The Laramie Project"; Photo by
Michael Lamont
Some observers have complained that too much is being made of the Daisey case, that the theater is
essentially about fiction, that theater is subjective while journalism is objective, blah blah blah. This
argument does both journalism and the theater a disservice.
It’s obvious that journalism is more subjective than ever these days – but that doesn’t mean that
subjective journalists should disregard the facts. It’s also obvious that theaters can use journalistic,
ostensibly more “objective” techniques to tell their stories, sometimes to great polemical effect – The
Laramie Project, the Civilians, LA’s own Cornerstone Theater. But it’s incumbent on these theater
artists, more than the artists who work only with “fiction,” to be very precise about the facts. If either
subjective journalists or subjective theater artists aren’t careful about the facts, they can weaken the
arguments they’re making. Just ask Daisey.
6 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Melody Butiu and Gregory Itzin in the 2007
SCR premiere of "Shipwrecked! An
Entertainment"
I first heard about the Daisey controversy while listening to This American Life on my way to see a
revival of Donald Margulies’ Sight Unseen at South Coast Repertory. The last Margulies premiere I had
seen at South Coast was Shipwrecked! An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis de
Rougemont (As Told by Himself). As those who saw it at South Coast or, a year later, at the Geffen may
recall, Shipwrecked! is about a storyteller who became famous for his thrilling adventures abroad, before
his stories were eventually exposed as a hoax.
Daisey is no de Rougemont, at least not in terms of their apparent goals. Daisey wanted to expose
workers’ conditions in China that clearly need additional exposure, even if his twisting of the facts might
have harmed that effort. De Rougemont was in it mostly for the glory and the remuneration.
However, the road from Daisey to de Rougemont could easily descend on a slippery slope, and anyone
who tries to tell true stories in the theater should take heed not to slip.
TROUSER ROLES, JUKEBOX MUSICALS: Don’t ask me to go into all the details about the two
new musicals I saw over the weekend – the plots are, uh, complicated. But both of them involve the
familiar Shakespearean convention of young heroines dressed as young men – at least in part to achieve
greater proximity to the real young men they’re pursuing.
7 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Matt Walker, Christine Lakin, Monica
Schneider and Rob Nagle in "Two Gentlemen
of Chicago"
They’re also jukebox musicals of a sort, in that they use other people’s familiar tunes. But the music is
from very different eras, and rights and royalties aren’t involved in either show, for different reasons.
Troubadour Theater’s The Two Gentlemen of Chicago uses the music of, duh, Chicago (the group, as
opposed to the city), mostly from 1969 and the ‘70s. The Troubies don’t have to pay royalties because
they’re satirists who do parodies, which are allowed according to the experts at the University of
Troubie Law School.
Hello! My Baby, at the Rubicon in Ventura, is set about a century ago, give or take a few years, and uses
music from that pre-jukebox era — in other words, songs that are now in the public domain.
In Hello! My Baby, the protagonists are song pluggers, who hit the streets of New York performing the
latest ditties, trying to sell the sheet music in order to create a wave of popular appeal. I was reminded of
fledgling artists today who make a video, slap it on YouTube and do what they can to make it go viral.
The cast of "Hello! My Baby"; Photo by Daniel
8 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
P. Lam
Cheri Steinkellner has devised an ingenious plot – much of it tongue in cheek — around the songs,
adding new lyrics to help point some of them in the direction of her characters. The whole thing “steams
like a locomotive” – which, she says in a program note, was part of her goal. It’s a very lively, albeit
very retro entertainment.
I hope it goes far, in part because it marks Rubicon’s return to a much bigger show — with 22 actors
(including George Wendt, one of the stars of Steinkellner’s old series Cheers) and a four-piece band —
after a period of smaller productions, dictated by the necessity to pay off debts during the economic
crisis. Director Brian McDonald keeps the production at Rubicon’s usual high standards.
Troubie standards are always up there, too, and they remain so in Matt Walker’s staging of this mash-up
of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona with Chicago hits. Chicago is known for its brassy sound,
and the Troubies band, led by Eric Heinly is up to the challenge, supplemented by trombone blasts from
actor Morgan Rusler, playing the father of one of the two gentlemen.
Beth Kennedy, Roosevelt the Pug and Matthew
Morgan in "Two Gentlemen of Chicago"
What I’ll remember the most from this Troubie production is the participation of Rob Nagle, who
doubles as one of the artistic directors of the Antaeus classical company. Not only is it fun to see the
classical guy treating Shakespeare with such inspired irreverence, but it’s even more fun to see him in
the evening’s most ridiculous costume, designed by Sharon McGunigle. And, if you read the bios in the
program, you’ll see that Nagle and his wife provided the services of Roosevelt the Pug, playing Crab the
9 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Dog. I hope I’m not forgetting some inspired four-legged performance in another Troubie show, but
Roosevelt’s performance makes any other animal actors in Troubie shows easy to forget.
Hello! My Baby, Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. Wed 2 and 7 pm, Thur-Fri 8 pm, Sat
2 and 8 pm, Sun 2 pm. Closes April 15. www.rubicontheatre.org. 805-667-2900.
Two Gentlemen of Chicago, Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. Wed-Sat 8 pm, Sun 4
pm. Closes April 22. www.FalconTheatre.com. 818-955-8101.
***All Two Gentlemen of Chicago production photos by Chelsea Sutton
Share this:
Print This Article
Email
Twitter
Facebook
Posted in News
Tags: Cheri Steinkellner, Don Shirley, Hello! My Baby, How Theater Failed America,
LAStageWatch, Matt Walker, Mike Daisey, New York Public Theater, Rob Nagle, Rubicon
Theatre, the Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Troubadour Theater, Two Gentlemen of
Chicago, Woolly Mammoth Theatre
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Home
Page 2
Rose’s Bedfellows
Surprising Stats From
Rises, Stehlin Staging Equity About LA
Theaters. Lean Forward
Class Acts — But
and Pay Attention to
Where’s LA in This Counting New Beans.
Mix?
Talking to Stephen
CONNIE CHATS ON Schwartz
OPENING NIGHT:
Billy Elliot
Matthew McCray
Examines Technology in
La Mirada’s Brian
Eternal Thou
Kite Launches Miss
Saigon
Elizabeth Sarnoff Does a
Slow Dance in Midtown
Raymund, Stewart,
and Elephant Man in a LA STAGE INSIDER
10 of 11
Page 3
Page 4
Reid Scott Becomes an LA Robert Patrick’s
Director With Elephant
Off-Off Life, From
Man
Roswell to LA
Feedback Strikes Up the
Brand
DOMA Updates
Tommy Using a
Mix of Seasonings
LA STAGE INSIDER
Laura and the Two Davids
at Theatre 40
Chua Examines
1969, When the US
Began a Right
Turn
LA County Arts
Commission Offers Arts
LA STAGE
Tune-up in Santa Clarita on INSIDER
April 28
The Magic Bullet
4/18/12 1:20 PM
Should Producers Fact-Check Their Non-Fiction Plays? Two N...
http://www.lastagetimes.com/2012/03/should-producers-fact-ch...
Theory of JFK’s
Death —
Accidental?
Ménage
Felder’s Lincoln — He
Doesn’t Play Lincoln or a
Piano
LA STAGE INSIDER Ron West Stages Early
and Often at Open Fist
LA STAGE Talks:
Will Theatergoers Be
Researchers Measure the
Swayed by
Matt Shakman Uncorks Intrinsic Impact of Live
Greenway’s
Good People at the Geffen Theatre
Bewildered Herd?
OK, O, What Kind of
Writing the Score of The
Mora Steers the Music Music Do You Write?
Vault: Bankrupt in Three
in Colony’s Dames at
Days
Sea
99-Seat Producers Invited
to Discuss Union Plans at Imparato’s Decade at the
Mikhail Baryshnikov LA STAGE Alliance
Tomlin Wagner Center —
– A Russian In Paris Meetings
the Opposite of a Deathtrap
Arabian, Mandell
and Armstrong
Wait for Godot
Circle X Gets
Naked Before God
How Do You Direct
the End of Jesus
Christ Superstar?
Shores and
Rodriguez Catch
Leavitt’s
Boomerang
March 25 SWAN
The Kennedys Take Bankrupt at the Old
What is the Intrinsic Impact
Day Event Fosters
Comedies to the Next Bank. Felder Sings. ’60s of Live Theatre?
Work for Women
Level
Fantasias.
Theater Artists
Should Producers
Another Mamet –
My Baby Gets a Big Hello Fact-Check Their
LA STAGE
Clara – Writes Plays At the Rubicon
Non-Fiction Plays? Two
TALKS Debut
(and Acts in Them),
New Jukebox Musicals With
March 27:
Directed by Paul Sand TCG Announces $1.45
Trouser Roles
What is the
Million Audience
Intrinsic Value of
Lucy Deutsch Has No (R)Evolution
Cultivate/Create Debut
Live Theater?
Time to Weep
Attacks Abuse Against
Women
The Evolution Of
Suicide: From
Poem To Stage
Play
11 of 11
4/18/12 1:20 PM