Lehigh Valley Stage
NCC's Bill Mutimer leaves a legacy of theater and love
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| There is no doubt Bill Mutimer was loved.
“A beautifully talented man.” “A wonderful director, mentor and all around amazing person.” “A light in the world.” “A wonderful, charismatic, gentle man.” “Immensely talented and intensely dedicated.” “An empathetic and uplifting human being.” “A great teacher but an even better person.” “An inspiration to me and many more!”
The accolades fill the pages of Facebook as students, colleagues and friends mourn the loss of the beloved Lehigh Valley theater icon and theater head at Northamptom Community College.
When the 60-year-old Mutimer died unexpectedly at his home March 6, he was, as was typical, in the middle of a myriad of theater projects. 
The Allentown resident had just finished directing “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” Feb. 25 at Cedar Crest College; and “Mamma Mia!” at Northwestern Lehigh High School, where he is the district’s drama director, last weekend. Mutimer had recently started rehearsals for “Mary Poppins” at Northwestern Lehigh Middle School; and next week was slated to start rehearsals for “A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at Northampton Community College. He also had scheduled community auditions next week for four musicals planned for the 2024 season at Northampton Community Colleges Summer Theater, for which he was producing artistic director.
His schedule may have seemed hectic, but theater was in his blood and he approached each show with an unbridled passion.
“He always wanted more theater- another show, another audience, another performance,” says Brett Oliveira, a friend and colleague. “Even when he was tired, or needed a break, his focus was always on the next show - what can we do next, how can we do it differently, and what kind of statements should we be making.”
At Northampton Community College, Mutimer guided season after season of challenging theater for his students and launched the community college’s inaugural summer theater series seven years ago.
“He would direct four shows at NCC, and that wasn’t enough so he directed shows at Cedar Crest and Northwestern Lehigh and The Pennsylvania Playhouse, and that was not enough, so he built Northampton Community College Summer Theater from the ground up out of his sheer determination and force of will,” Oliveira says.
Inspired by his years as a faculty member for Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, in 2017, he decided to start his own summer theater series of five shows at Northampton with casts that included both equity actors and local performers.
“We want to offer our students a chance to network with professionals and students from other colleges,” he said at the time.
Now this summer’s Northampton Community Colleges Summer Theater, which was to bring “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Mamma Mia” and “Dr. Suess's Cat in the Hat” is up in the air.
Mutimer was scheduled next to direct “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at Northampton in April. Since rehearsals had not yet started, that production may not happen.
The next Northampton show “The Laramie Project” opening tonight through March 11, is being directed by Clair Freeman and plans are for it to go on as scheduled.
“Bill was very proud that NCC was producing ‘The Laramie Project,’ so we've decided to go forward with tonight's opening,” Freeman says.
He adds there will be an announcement of Mutimer’s passing before each performance.
In an email to the NCC community, college president David A. Ruth said “Bill was an iconic symbol of our theater program and a dear friend, colleague and mentor to so many. Bill’s passing leaves an enormous void in the heart of our campus community. He transformed the theater program into one of the best in the area and a highlight of the college’s arts program.”
He said counseling is being offered for students.
Originally from Georgia, Mutimer came up north to get a bachelors and masters degree in theater from University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.
After graduating, he settled in the Lehigh Valley, and immediately got involved in community theater. For many years he was artistic director of the Main Street Theater in Quakertown. After it closed in 2004, he became co-owner and artisic director at Center for the Arts on Main, also in Quakertown, before becoming an adjunct professor at Muhlenberg College. In 2010, he began teaching theater at Northampton Community College, and became the head of the department.
Over the years, he has directed and performed on nearly every stage in the Lehigh Valley, including Pennsylvania Playhouse, Civic Theater, Muhlenberg College, Cedar Crest College, MunOpCo, and Pennsylvania Youth Theatre. He also was the final artistic director of Theatre Outlet after George Miller and Kate Scuffle went to Ireland.
"As a producer, actor, and especially as a supportive, well-loved, and gifted director/educator, from Main Street Theatre, to his work with us at Theatre Outlet and Selkie, and on to NCC, Bill created and shared theater that was always exciting, new, provocative, inclusive, collaborative and that pushed boundaries,” Scuffle says. “He was as passionate an audience member as he was a theater artist. His enthusiasm, curiosity, and joy in life and art made him an inspiration, and a friend that I can’t believe is gone. His loss is an irreplaceable loss to us not only in the performing arts community, but to audiences in the Valley and beyond, and to his beloved students."
The last show he directed at Northampton was January’s “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties,” a raw, cutting edge indictment of sexism.
Although he is known most recently for his directing, Bill was a consummate performer and some of his roles – Max Bialystock in MunOpCo’s “The Producers,” Marcellus Washburn in Pennsylvania Playhouse’s “The Music Man” and last summer’s role as fading Broadway actor Barry Glickman in Northampton Summer Theatre’s “The Prom” were stand-outs.
NCC theater student Max Wetherhold considered Mutimer not only a mentor, but a friend.
“Bill was truly a light in the lives of everyone who knew him,” Wetherhold says. “The impact he made on countless people is immeasurable. Whether you knew him as a mentor, director, professor, or friend, he was always there to welcome and accept you with open arms. The loss of him has left not only a giant hole in our community, but also in all of our hearts. While his absence will be deeply felt, the memories he left behind will remain present in the many lives he touched, and the theater community which will never be the same without him.”
His mother Barbara Wetherhold also became close to Mutimer, and says she and Max will be adopting Mutimer’s black chow Fozzie.
“He has left a huge hole that we can never fill,” she says. “He is a light like no other. When he loved you, there was no doubt in your mind he loved you. He brought out the best in people as performers, as actors, and as human beings. He was unabashedly himself. He met everyone with a smile and open heart. We were all blessed to have known him.”
Oliveira who has know Mutimer for 20 years, says Mutimer changed his life.
“He gave me the opportunity to leave my non-theater job and turn my passion and part-time hobby of theater into my full-time job, and I’ll forever owe him a huge debt of gratitude for that,” Oliveira says. “He saw something in me, and gave me the chance to do what I was meant to do. Countless students can say the same, that Bill took a chance on them, and that chance transformed their lives. He was such a vital part of the heart of our Lehigh Valley theater community.”
Freeman echoes Oliveira’s sentiments.
“Bill Mutimer literally changed the course of my life with a single text,” he says. “He sent me a message regarding an opening for an adjunct teaching position at NCC. I’d previously been working as a guest director at Cedar Crest College and had done a few shows at Pennsylvania Playhouse, but it was Bill who opened the door to a teaching career.”
Both Oliveira and Freeman mention Mutimer’s humor and how he was quick to laugh.
“We will all miss his deep belly laugh, his telling his actors “Don’t suck” before the show, his random quotes in funny voices, and his friendship,” Oliveira says.
Freeman adds Mutimer’s laugh was “distinctive, one of a kind; and one that will echo in my mind, and the mind of anyone who knew him for years to come.”
Funeral services will be in Atlanta where Mutimer’s family lives. Barbara Wetherhold says Mutimer’s friends plan to hold a Celebration of Life for him locally and will announce details at a later date.
NEW YEAR'S REVIEW: Lehigh Valley theater endures and triumphs, but needs to aim higher in 2024
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| Lehigh Valley Stage salutes our regional theater, its casts, crews, artistic teams, and the audiences who continue to support them.
Many outstanding productions and strong individual performances could not mask an alarming trend in our regional menu of shows toward the familiar, the two-dimensional, and most damnably, the safe.
In a year distressingly characterized by the timidity of its regional play selections, a few companies stood above the rest not only in the strength and quality, but also in the courage, of their productions. 
Foremost among these few, Between the Lines Studio Theatre continues to surprise and reward its small but steadfast and growing audiences by offering one after another of provocative and daring presentations
We also honor Civic Theatre for its timely and necessary resurrection of “The Laramie Project”, a shattering look in the mirror of our society.
Northampton Community College Theatre has assumed the role that once belonged to local four-year colleges of striving to present a wide and ambitious catalog of challenging shows, while at the same time providing wonderful opportunities both for its expansive casts and its loyal followers.
Pennsylvania Playhouse is given a respectful nod for its recent commitment to including shows with culturally diverse casts and themes on its yearly calendar.
Meanwhile, only Touchstone Theatre and Crowded Kitchen Players consistently offer new and locally generated works.
We sincerely hope and wish that more of our regional companies will consider including locally written scripts in their seasons to come, and that more Lehigh Valley theater-goers will encourage them in that effort.
Here are our selections, in chronological order, of the more daring or ambitious productions we've had the privilege to attend and review in the past 12 months.
Please click on READ MORE at the bottom of each capsule review to find the full reviews of these fine productions.
NCC's unsettling, intense "American Buffalo" indicts capitalism
Published on 27 January 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams | |
Northampton Community College’s Theatre Department production of David Mamet’s classic 1975 dark comedy makes for intense and unsettling theater, driven by strong performances by the three performers.
The compelling play, in which Mamet posits his scathing indictment of capitalism, runs through Jan. 29 at the Bethlehem Township school.
Pennsylvania Playhouse's "Our Lady of the Tortilla" playful and charming
Published on 28 January 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams | |
Pennsylvania Playhouse’s sweetly charming "Our Lady of the Tortilla" is a heartfelt comedy about family that reveals love is at the core despite any disagreements.
Playful and gently humorous, Luis Santeiro’s prize-winning play continues at the playhouse in Bethlehem through Feb. 12.
The 1987 comedy follows the Cruz family as they weather changing relationships and fitting in when their religious aunt sees the face of the Virgin Mary in a tortilla, turning their suburban New Jersey home upside down.
Touchstone's "Games We Play" touching exploration of friendship
Published on 17 February 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
The changing dynamics of friendship are explored in the touching and intriguing “Games We Play” through Feb. 26 at Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem.
In the heartwarming and heartbreaking original play, written and performed by Touchstone ensemble members Emma Ackerman and Chris Egging, two characters examine their friendship from the unfettered joy of childhood at age 8 to the burden of responsibility in careworn middle age. A buoyant Ackerman is the energetic Chrissy who identifies herself as “of the air” and is hoping to fly away from home.
The lanky Chris Egging is the gawky and goofy Alexander who moves in next door to Chrissy. Alex is “of the earth” preferring to stay grounded and put down roots.
Both actors are very expressive in their interactions which are sweet and silly as well as frustrating. Egging has an almost rubber-like face as his emotions play across his continence.
Muhlenberg's "Love + Information" whimsical, thought-provoking
Published on 24 February 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Caryl Churchill’s play about relationships and technology “Love + Information” is a fascinating kaleidoscope of theater as staged by Muhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance through Feb. 26 at the Allentown College’s Baker Theater.
An enthusiastic cast of 18 plays more than 100 characters in 57 colorful micro-plays during the 1 hour 45 minute show presented without an intermission.
It’s the ultimate play for today’s notoriously short attention spans with vignettes that range from lasting mere moments to several minutes.
MunOpCo Music Theatre does fantastic job with its thrilling musical “Dreamgirls” through March 5
Published on 27 February 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams
MunOpCo Music Theatre has done a fantastic job with its thrilling musical “Dreamgirls” now through March 5 at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 1533 Hamilton St, Allentown.
The show is filled with passionate performances and it is great to see live music on the stage. The 15 piece band led by David Mascari, is right in the middle of the stage for the entire show, which not only enhances the concert hall locale of much of the story but adds just the right note of brassiness to the rhythm and blues-inspired music.
Between The Lines' "The Goat" intense and provocative
Published on 05 March 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams
Between The Lines Studio Theatre presents a harrowing production of Edward Albee’s controversial play “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” through March 11 at the group’s theater at 725 N. 15th St., Allentown
The play’s unsettling subject matter is raw and at times difficult to watch as Albee examines the most scandalous social taboos and how people react to them. “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” was written in 2000 and won the Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
CKP's "The Rising" raw and compelling theatre
Published on 17 March 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Crowded Kitchen Players’ heartfelt retelling of the story of a tragic uprising by a group of Irish rebels on EasterMonday in 1916 is made even more poignant with the addition of the moving words of the granddaughter of one of the actual rebels.
Fiona Galligan Sweeney, granddaughter of Irish rebel Peter Paul Galligan, makes her stage debut in the often raw, but always compelling “The Rising: The Irish Rebellion in Song and Verse” through March 19 at Charles A. Brown IceHouse in Bethlehem.
Conceived and directed effectively by Ara Barlieb, the story of “The Rising” returns after a successful run in 2022, with additional material about Sweeney’s ancestor, who played a critical role in the fighting and was one of the few leaders who escaped execution.
Playhouse's "The Ghost Train" a fun, spooky ride
Published on 18 March 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
At 100 years old, “The Ghost Train” may be showing its age a bit, but is nonetheless a fun and spooky, if slightly wacky, ride.The 1934 thriller is at Pennsylvania Playhouse at 390 Illicks Mill Road, Bethlehem through April 2.
Things are not as they seem in the story of a group of travelers who find themselves trapped overnight in an isolated old railway station where a local legend tells of a haunted train that comes through at night, leaving death in its wake.
Cast at Civic's Theatre514 pulls off "Trouble in Mind" with remarkably strong performances
Published on 20 March 2023 | Written by Dave Howell |
“Trouble in Mind” is about racism and sexism in the theater. These are up-to-date topics, but this work by Alice Childress debuted Off-Broadway in 1955. Considered too controversial for its time, it did not have a Broadway opening until 2021.
In working around restrictions of the fifties, Childress constructed a play with a message that is powerful but never too strident. It is scrupulously fair, critical of both black and white characters, and giving time to present the viewpoints of the white antagonist. There is a sympathetic side to all of the nine participants in the story.
It is rare to see a show that succeeds with both humor and intense drama, but the cast at the Civic Theatre’s Theatre514 pulls it off with remarkably strong performances.
The setting is the backstage of a New York City Broadway theater in 1957. It opens with Wiletta Mayer (Veronica Cummings) arriving to play yet another stereotypical role, this time in an anti-lynching polemic set in the Deep South. She is greeted by the elderly, addled Henry (Michael Daniels).
NCC mines the laughs with playful "Much Ado About Nothing"
Published on 15 April 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Northampton Community College’s Theatre Department mines the laughs with a broadly comedic production of William Shakespeare's “Much Ado About Nothing.” On the college’s Lipkin Theatre stage, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township through April 16, the production playfully uses physical comedy to accentuate Shakespeare’s witty wordplay.
Director William Mutimer has set the comedy in the flirty Roaring Twenties to good effect.
Max Wetherhold as the musician Balthasar sets the scene, crooning popular hits from the 1920s like “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue,” and “Bye, Bye Black,bird,” while accompanying himself on the ukulele.
Darkly buoyant "Matilda the Musical" from Star of the Day in Emmaus
Published on 22 April 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Star of the Day’s 2023 season opener “Matilda the Musical” is a dark, but ultimately buoyant trip through the torments of childhood, on stage through April 30 at St. John’s United Church of Christ, 139 N. Fourth St., Emmaus.
The story based on Roald Dahl’s book “Matilda,” follows the misfortunes of Matilda Wormwood, a brilliant but unloved child who goes to a school run by the cruel Miss Trunchbull who has made the school’s motto “Bambinatum est magitum” - “Children are maggots.”
The show opens up with the younger members of the cast singing “Miracle,” a subversive song about children whose parents put them on a pedestal. Quickly, it becomes apparent Trunchbull’s school is a harsh reality for these children.
"Pints, Pounds & Pilgrims" hilarious, manic farce
Published on 05 June 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Crowded Kitchen Players presents a hilarious, manic production of “Pints, Pounds & Pilgrims” an original comedy written and directed by Ara Barlieb, at the Charles A. Brown IceHouse, Bethlehem through June 18.
The wacky comedy is a play within in a play, or rather two plays within a play, as the story follows two competing theater companies who go to an arts festival on the Irish Island of Inishbofin off the coast of Connemara, County Galway to perform.
The excellent Trish Cipoletti is imperious as British director Simone Wexler, who deludes herself that her original Irish tragedy, “A Bad Year for Potatoes,” is high art.
Cipoletti is outrageously funny as she blusters, fumes and storms while she delivers arch directions to her clueless cast.
NCC Summer Theatre's "The Prom" heartfelt and uplifting
Published on 08 June 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Northampton Community College Summer Theater delivers a heartfelt and uplifting production of “The Prom” through June 18 in Lipkin Theater, Northampton Community College, 3835 Green Pond Rd., Bethlehem Township.
“The Prom” boasts an evening of entertaining performances with strong singing and energetic dancing.
The musical follows four struggling Broadway actors as they travel to Indiana to help a lesbian student whose high school prom was canceled after she said she wanted to take her girlfriend to prom.
Thrilling "“Tick, Tick … Boom!” at Bucks County Playhouse
Published on 30 June 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
“Tick, Tick … Boom!” is a dynamic and exuberant musical filled with outstanding performances by its talented three-person cast. The show explodes on the stage of Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope through July 15.
The musical, a semi-autobiographical retelling of “Rent” composer Jonathan Larson’s life before he wrote his hit rock musical, has a surprising number of local connections.
Bucks County Playhouse Executive Producer Robyn Goodman helped Larsen work on the show and is one of the original producers of “Tick, Tick … Boom!” off-Broadway.
"Allies" debates cultural identity, at Between the Lines Studio Theatre
Published on 10 July 2023 | Written by Dave Howell |
“Allies,” a new play by Alexander Kventon, has appeared just as our society questions cultural identity.
It revolves around a group of six white men in a diversity meeting. The meeting takes up the whole ninety-minute play, although there is plenty of drama and a shocking ending, which I won’t reveal here.
On July 7 and 8, Allentown’s Between the Lines Theatre performed this drama in what it called an elevated reading, where the actors read their lines from the script but move about instead of just remaining in place. The format worked here, since the plot has the actors seated most of the time, and there was only one point where there was a pause to describe the action.
At Pa Shakespeare Festival, Ebony Pullum brilliantly recreates Billy Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill”
Published on 21 July 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Ebony Pullum brings legendary jazz songstress Billie Holiday to vibrant life in Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s heartbreaking “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” through Aug. 6 in the Schubert Theater, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, Desales University, Center Valley.
The show brilliantly recreates one of Holiday’s final performances before she died in 1959 at a Philadelphia bar in a tour-de-force turn by Pullum.
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival stages fresh, comedic “Sense and Sensibility”
Published on 23 July 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams | |
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival has staged a deliciously comedic take on Jane Austin’s “Sense and Sensibility” through Aug. 5 on the Main Stage at Labuda As Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley.
Austen’s story of sisters who are put out of their house and left penniless after their father dies, feels fresh and assured as directed by Jessica Bedford.
Sarah Gliko plays the sensible oldest sister Elinor with a quiet self-assurednes. Gliko’s Elinor is strong but hides her emotions behind her oh-so-practical demeanor. Meanwhile, Arianna Daniel’s’ middle sister Marianne is tempestuous and impulsive, with a giddy lack of decorum, contrasting her older sister.
Civic's "The Laramie Project" profoundly moving
Published on 17 September 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
“The Laramie Project” approaches a horrific hate crime by examining the many people who lived in the very ordinary town in which it happened. At Civic’s Theatre514, this at times excruciatingly painful, at times surprisingly funny play, is always profoundly moving under the deft direction of Williams Sanders and Rae Labadie. “The Laramie Project” is at Civic’s Theatre 514, 514 N. 19th St., Allentown through through Sept. 24.
The play centers around the brutal 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming.
DeSales' Act 1 stages heartrending, honest "Intimate Apparel"
Published on 01 October 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Act 1 DeSales University Theatre’s graceful production of Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel,” is painfully honest, heartrending and ultimately still hopeful.
The touching drama is on the Main Stage of the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts in Center Valley through Oct. 8.
Taking place in New York in 1905, 35-year-old Esther, played with endless stoic strength by Maya Marino Cappello, is a black woman who has been working as a seamstress for 18 years. While other women around her marry and leave, Esther sews lingerie for a variety of clients from wealthy white housewives to prostitutes. She saves money in a quilt and dreams of opening a beauty parlor where black women would be treated like ladies.
Crowded Kitchen's "Mothers Shall But Smile" evocative and wrenching at The Ice House
Published on 08 October 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
The casualties of the American war machine in Vietnam are explored in wrenching depth in Crowded Kitchen Players’ evocative original play "Mothers Shall But Smile" through Oct. 22 at the Charles A. Brown Ice House, 56 River St., Bethlehem.
"Mothers Shall But Smile" focuses on Andrew, an adjutant to his battalion's colonel on Bien Hoa Air Base in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972. As part of his duties, he is assigned to investigate the possible wrongful death of a Vietnamese civilian.
Written and directed by Ara Barlieb, the play is inspired by real-life events as described in letters by Barlieb's brother, who was a captain in the U. S. Army stationed at Bien Hoa during the Vietnam War.
Delightfully dark "Sweeney Todd" at Playhouse
Published on 09 October 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Pennsylvania Playhouse has delivered a darkly delightful production of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” at 390 Illick’s Mill Road, Bethlehem through Oct. 22.
The show creates a slightly ominous environment before the production even begins as the downtrodden appearing cast members prowl the stage and among the audience.
“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” begins with the cast as a grim Greek chorus, singing Sondheim’s distinctive harmonies from all over the theater for an immersive effect.
NCC's "Blood Brothers" poignant and devastating
Published on 27 October 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams | |
Northampton Community College Theatre Department’s “Blood Brothers,” is emotionally gripping, funny and ultimately devastating. The Bethlehem Township college's poignant production of the tragic show is in NCC’s Lipkin Theatre, through Oct. 29.
Between the Lines' "The Thanksgiving Play" deliciously wicked satire of political correctness
Published on 16 November 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams | |
Between the Lines Studio Theatre delivers a deliciously wicked satire with its premiere of “The Thanksgiving Play” through Nov. 19 at its theater at 725 N. 15th St., Allentown.
Playwright Larissa FastHorse, a member of the Sicangu Lakota nation and the first Native American woman to have a play produced on Broadway, has written a smartly clever play about four white, well-intentioned artists who want to create a respectful and politically correct Thanksgiving play at an elementary school. As they attempt to avoid offending anyone, they encounter minefields of white privilege, historical accuracy, the lack of indigenous casting and the challenges of accurately representing Native Americans.
NCC's "The Lifespan of a Fact" fast-paced, thought-provoking look at truth
Published on 19 November 2023 | Written by Kathy Lauer-Williams |
Do facts matter? Or is it okay to change a few details to express a creative vision? That’s the debate at the heart of the fast-moving and thought-provoking “The Lifespan of a Fact” presented by Northampton Community College Theatre Department through Nov. 20 at Northampton Community College’s Norman Roberts Lab Theater, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township.
Based on true events, theis fascinating play focuses on the conflict between Jim Fingal, a fresh-out-of-Harvard fact checker for a New York literary magazine, and John D'Agata, an academic writer who has penned an essay about the suicide of a teenage boy in Las Vegas.