At the center of Fake, which opened Steppenwolf Theatre’s season on Tuesday night, is the “Piltdown Man.” A reconstructed skeletal head consisting of skull and jawbone fragments allegedly discovered in a gravel pit in Piltdown, England in 1912, Piltdown Man was considered to be the missing link between man and ape. Although its authenticity was challenged almost immediately, it was not declared a forgery by the scientific community for 40 years, when advances were able to prove that the reconstruction was actually an orangutan jawbone combined with the skull of a modern man. Got it? Now on to the actual play. more ›