Vernon Area Library features critically-acclaimed one-man show, Incognito

Chicago actor and author Michael Fosberg will perform his critically acclaimed one-man play, “Incognito,” at the Vernon Area Public Library on Tuesday, July 9, at 7 p.m. In the 50-minute autobiographical performance, Michael portrays characters from his past to retell the story of his search for his roots and the life-altering results of that mission.

At the age of 34, Chicago actor/author Michael Fosberg began a quest to find his biological rather. 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 knowledge of his Detroit home two decades earlier, Fosberg makes a phone call that uncovers long-concealed family secrets. .

Mr. Fosberg’s story, recounted in a compelling autobiographical novel, "Incognito: An American Odyssey of Race & Self-Discovery" (2011), and the show, are featured at the Vernon Area Public Library as part of the Adult Summer Reading theme, “Buried Secrets.”

Raised in a working-class white family in Waukegan by an Armenian-American mother and adoptive stepfather, Mr. Fosberg discovered that he had a family, a history, and an ethnicity he never knew.

Hailed by Chicago critics as “an engrossing and deeply moving trip, for both the audience and the performer,” Incognito has been performed in Chicago theaters, as well as art venues and universities throughout the country. Following the performance, Mr. Fosberg will facilitate a conversation with the audience about their own personal experiences with family heritage, inclusion, identity and bias.

“It is my hope to continue for as long as I can to address the very real need I see to change the way we talk about race in America,” Fosberg said.

 Mr. Fosberg has performed in Chicago at Steppenwolf Theatre, Remains Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre, Apple Tree Theater, Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, and Illinois Theatre Center.

This event is free and open to all. Register online at http://bit.ly/IncognitoPlay, phone at 224-543-1485, or in person at any public service desk in the library.
 

About the Vernon Area Public Library District

The Vernon Area Public Library District serves a population of 42,900 within a 29-square-mile area that includes Lincolnshire, Prairie View, and parts of Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills, and unincorporated Vernon and Ela townships. For more information about the library and its services, visit http://www.vapld.info.