Despite the fact they read from a script and dress the part, most TV reporters would deny an equivalence with actors. Some gig across the non/fiction divide, as when Brian Williams spoofed himself on 30 Rock. Generally, though, it’s trustworthy-looking stars—Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom), Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), or Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)—who get their fingers metaphorically smeared in ink. Maggie Siff fits the Murrow mold; the Billions actor’s flinty glamour and quiet strength make her a telegenic messenger from war zones in Alexis Scheer’s Breaking the Story. When Siff’s chiseled features appear jumbo size on projection screens around Myung Hee Cho’s set (video design by Elaine J. McCarthy), we sit up and pay attention to the news.

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If only Scheer’s schizoid study of trauma and the ethics of journalism knew which story it wanted to break, the play might carry more heft or emotional resonance. It opens in an unspecified........

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