The Theater of the First Amendment (TFA) was founded in 1990 by current George Mason University Professor Paul D'Andrea and operated until 2012. The TFA was a professional theater company that operated in Fairfax, Virginia and was in residence at George Mason University's Center for the Arts. Since its inception, the TFA produced nearly 44 full productions and a vast quantity of staged readings for new and aspiring playwrights to present their works. The productions created by the TFA have accumulated twelve Helen Hayes Awards and have been nominated thirty-seven times. Additionally, a number of the plays that originated at the TFA have been published, produced, broadcasted, and televised. The mission of the TFA was to discover, develop, and launch new thought-provoking plays. The TFA served as an artistic home to the next generation of playwrights and an incubator for new play development. The ultimate goal of Dr. D'Andrea and his colleagues was to turn the TFA into a nationally-recognized theater company that could launch local playwrights into the national spotlight. The Theater of the First Amendment's founder Dr. Paul D'Andrea currently resides as a Robinson Professor of Literature at George Mason University. Dr. D'Andrea earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in physics and later returned to Harvard to complete a doctorate degree in literature. Dr. D'Andrea experienced great success as a playwright and created many award winning plays including "The Trouble with Europe," "A Full Length Portrait of America" and "The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay." He has taught at Harvard, the University of Chicago, and the University of Minnesota. Currently, Dr. D'Andrea teaches courses on topics such as Renaissance art, philosophy and literature; views of gender from Aristophanes through "Much Ado about Nothing" to "Sex and the City"; the moral vision of contemporary drama; and Shakespeare. He has written screenplays and is interested in linking the humanities and the arts through contemporary media.