James Frey as a metaphor for the fall of Western Civilization and everything wrong in the world? Perhaps, according to the new spoken-word, verbal-essay type thing, Truth, by celebrated monologist Mike Daisey, through November 4 at the Ars Nova theater at 511 West 54th St.

Speaking non-stop for over an hour while seated behind a simple desk on stage, Daisey weaves the saga of Frey's literary rise and fall into his own personal recollections and feelings about bending the truth when telling about one's life. Not unlike an extended verbal essay, Daisey's performance draws us from one topic to the next, from his father's disappointment at his own bending of the truth to a friend's death, commenting on the importance of personal integrity and the evolution of his thoughts on the subject.

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