Fairfield University’s Theatre Program recently welcomed audiences to its fall production of Bite-Sized: Delightfully Unusual Short Plays by American Playwrights, which played at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts from Nov. 5 to 9, 2025.
The production saw not only strong audience attendance, but also particularly high engagement from student participants.
“We are incredibly excited by the number of new students participating in theatre-making this year,” said Lynne Porter, chair of the Theatre Program and professor in the Department of Visual & Performing Arts. “The company of Bite-Sized was composed of mostly new, mostly underclass students—while also featuring our dedicated upperclass students.”
Composed of a series of thought-provoking short pieces written by Youseff El Guindi, Lauren Gunderson, David Ives, Don Nigro, and Craig Pospisil—some fun, some quirky, and some rather unsettling—the show featured characters from best friends and angels to a person on trial for murder, futuristic scientists, pigeons, and muses. There were seven plays in total, featuring a cast of 15 student performers, with numerous students also working backstage and at front of house.
When asked why this piece may have drawn such a strong turnout, Professor Porter noted that the incoming students attended high school in the post-Covid years. “They had a full high school theatre experience,” Porter commented, “which is a key factor in students choosing to participate in theatre in college.”
The Theatre Program recently underwent a rebranding, which was featured on the Bite-Sized programs and promotional materials. Productions were formerly presented under the name Theatre Fairfield, and the choice was made to officially change the producing title and logo to reflect a very important aspect of theatre education at Fairfield.
“What we do here is academic,” said Professor Porter, explaining that theatre productions at Fairfield serve the same purpose as labs for students in other disciplines. “We experiment, and we explore in a hands-on environment what we teach in classes. It’s important to distinguish that what we do is not a club, and to set those expectations. It’s an academic experience that is presented by faculty, students, and professionals working in tandem, in order for students to engage in this incredibly complex thing we call theatre.” As the newly rebranded Fairfield University Theatre Program, students continue to participate as before, but with a clearer focus on elevating the educational roots of the productions.
Katharine Gutkoski ’26, a senior with double majors in women, gender, and sexuality studies, and theatre, as well as a minor in communication, has worked on numerous Theatre Program productions, onstage and off. “I love telling stories and theatre is a fantastic medium to do just that,” she shared. “One of the best things about live theatre is that it is live. We don't get another take. We don't get to call "cut" and try again. We have to think on our toes and work with what we have. If something goes wrong, we fix it and move forward as best we can. The Theatre Program, both extracurricularly and academically, has taught me to solve all kinds of problems in the moment that the problem occurs.”
David Ilagan AS’27 a Fairfield Bellarmine computer science major who made his Theatre Program debut in Bite-Sized as the hilarious, pep-talking pigeon Paul in “Two Pigeons Talk Politics,” shared that he participates in theatre as a non-major because “besides having enjoyed doing shows in the past, it personally serves as an excellent exercise in communication and collaborating towards a greater end product. Working with such an adept and dedicated group was not only an honor, but it helped make the overall production a lovely experience.”
As the Theatre Program looks to the future, there are many exciting projects on the horizon, from the entirely student-run Independent Project this February, in which students will produce, direct, design, and star in Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick… BOOM!, to the first-ever co-production with the Quick Center and the Glee Club this April—a staged concert of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the musical adapted from the novel by Mark Twain—which is part of America250: The Promise and Paradox programming at Fairfield. To learn more about the Theatre Program, visit theatre-fairfield.org.
