Theatre Fairfield, Fairfield University’s resident production company, continues its 2019-20 season with the world premiere of Authenticity, an inventive new play by John Morogiello from an idea by Jackob G. Hofmann and John Morogiello. The production will be staged in the Wien Experimental Theatre at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Thursday, December 5, and Saturday, December 7, at 8 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, December 8.

Tickets, which are $18 general admission, $10 for seniors, and $5 for students, can be purchased in person at the Quick Center Box Office, by phone at 203-254-4010, or online at www.fairfield.edu/quickcenter.

Commissioned by Theatre Fairfield for its biannual Lucille Lortel Festival of New Plays, Authenticity is a wildly inventive play that poses the question of who really wrote the Shakespearean tragedy Titus Andronicus. When a newly unearthed manuscript calls into question Shakespeare's authorship, a mother-daughter team of experts tries to learn the truth, and, in doing so, is forced to confront the authenticity of their own relationship. Throughout their journey, parallel stories from the past and the present raise just as many questions as they answer.

“At its heart, Authenticity deals with the importance of truth and why it matters, something we should all be considering nowadays,” said director Jackob G. Hofmann, who directed Theater Fairfield’s production of Silent Sky last year. Both Hoffman and playwright Morogiello will hold a talk-back on their process of developing the show, following the Saturday evening performance. 

The cast of Theater Fairfield’s production of Authenticity features Kiersten Bjork ‘21, Paul Bova ’20, Bronwyn Cullen ’23, Jack Esposito ’21, Martha Hegley ’20, Park Lytle ’21, Declan Quigley ’22, and Emily Ramsey ‘20. The production’s artistic team includes fight choreographer Dan Burke, lighting designer Lynne Porter, costume designer Julie Leavitt, technical director Anne Kendall, and producer Martha LoMonaco, PhD.