Release Date: September 5, 2006

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Michael Fosberg’s “Incognito,” the highly-acclaimed, one-actor autobiographical show that has been revealing to audiences across the country the difficult history behind the tragic American complexity of race, will be performed at Monmouth College on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.

At the age of 34, writer/performer Michael Fosberg began a quest to find his biological father. Along the way he would uncover surprising information that would forever change the dynamics of his family. Armed with only the name of his father and the knowledge that he had lived in the Detroit area two decades earlier, Fosberg made a phone call which started to uncover long-concealed family secrets.

“Incognito” is the resulting one-actor play about the author’s emotion-packed personal journey for self discovery and, according to the author, is a memoir about finding his father and himself, about family and history, about the loss of childhood, about secrets and about forgiveness.

“In our ever-growing multiracial, multicultural world, this story has universal appeal,” said Fosberg. “There is something for everyone within this many-layered tale, whether it is the quest to find father, the impact of divorce or the difficulties of race and acceptance.”

Richard Christiansen, former chief critic of the Chicago Tribune, understood the drama of Fosberg’s autobiographical play when he wrote, “If you listen carefully, it will shake you to your own roots.”

In his play, Fosberg challenges audiences to, “Imagine discovering you are not the person you thought you were. That you have a family, a history, an ethnicity you never knew. How would this discovery impact your life, the lives of those around you, your vision of yourself and society?”

The author says “Incognito” unfolds as a mystery, “for both myself and the audience as I search for my biological father following the divorce of my mother and stepfather. The show’s structure allows the audience to make their own discoveries in the moment along with me – discoveries about themselves and their perceptions of identity and stereotypes.”

Fosberg, a Chicago native, has been writing, acting and directing for more than 20 years. He has performed in the Chicagoland area in shows at the Steppenwolf, Remains, Wisdom Bridge and Goodman theaters, working with such directors as John Malkovich, Gary Sinise and Robert Falls.

During the summer of 1974 he attended the National High School Institute’s Theater Arts Program on the campus of Northwestern University. He then went on to study acting, directing and writing at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, graduating with a B.F.A. degree.

While still attending school he founded the Small Change Original Theater, producing, writing, directing and conducting workshops for children of all ages throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and North and South Dakota. Returning to Chicago in the late 1990s, he wrote and directed much of the family entertainment at Navy Pier, including its elaborately-staged haunted house play.

Since 2000 he has been touring his autobiographical solo-show, performing to audiences at such venues as the Sundance Institute, The California African American Museum in Los Angeles, the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, the Apple Tree Theatre and the Missouri Repertory Theatre in Kansas City.

NEWS AT MC

Located in the lower level of the Admission/College Relations building, the office is responsible for media relations, official college publications, the college Web site and sports information.