Tracey Scott Wilson's play, 'The Story', which draws inspiration from a real-life journalism scandal, is currently being staged at the National Theatre in London. The play's narrative is rooted in the 1981 case of Janet Cooke, a Black American reporter for The Washington Post, who was exposed for inventing a Pulitzer Prize-winning story about an eight-year-old drug addict.
Cooke was discredited for her reporting and for embellishing her CV, leading her to return the award two days after receiving it. Wilson's play, which first premiered in New York in 2003, explores themes of authenticity, ambition, race, and class within the media.
The London production is directed by Clint Dyer, who had been present at a reading of the play at the Soho theatre in 2003 and advocated for its staging at the National Theatre.