Mr. White leaned on an interview she had done with Mr. Grondahl, as well as a public television documentary that provided the only video clip he could find of her. From that, he built the rip-roaring, sometimes heartbroken character whom Ms. Falco inhabits — disappointed by the men around her, who both lack loyalty and misunderstand what she does.
Indeed, one of the most resonant lines in the script is drawn almost verbatim from an actual Noonan quote: “There’s no machine,” she once said, mentioning O’Connell and Corning. “A machine doesn’t have heart — our organization did.”
As a political play in hyperpartisan times, Mr. White believes that “The True” may have extra resonance. In 1977, Democrats were at a turning point, much as they are today, he believes. “It’s about Sanders versus Hillary,” said Mr. White, who is a Democrat himself. “It’s about the Democratic Party challenging itself to decide where it’s gone wrong, if it’s gone wrong.”
Such questioning is going on in New York State politics, of course, as its centrist governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, faces an insurgent challenger, the actress Cynthia Nixon, attacking from the left. (During an interview Ms. Falco and Mr. McKean both gave a plug for Ms. Nixon, a friend of both.)
“Cuomo’s part of the machine just like Gillibrand is in a way,” Mr. White said. “They’re all inheritors of it.”
As for New York’s junior senator, Mr. White said he would love for her to come and see his depiction of her grandmother, though that seems unlikely: Ms. Gillibrand’s office declined to comment on “The True.”
The playwright said he understood the trepidation, but thought it was misplaced considering his largely affectionate take on Polly Noonan.
“This play is not about Kirsten Gillibrand in any way,” he said. “However, what this play is about regarding Kirsten Gillibrand is that if she was tutored by her grandmother, then you underestimate her at your peril.”
