Chicago Premiere of HATEF**K May 5 – June 10, 2023 at The Den Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar 

First Floor Theater

Presents the Chicago premiere of

HATEFUCK

By Rehana Lew Mirza

Directed by Arti Ishak

May 5 – June 10, 2023 at The Den Theatre

 

PHOTO CREDIT: The cast of First Floor Theater’s Chicago premiere of Hatefuck 

includes (left to right) Aila Peck and Faiz Siddique.

 

 First Floor Theater is pleased to conclude its Tenth Season with the Chicago premiere of Rehana Lew Mirza’s Kilroys’-lauded hit Hatefuck, directed by Arti Ishak, playing May 5 – June 10, 2023 at The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are now on sale at firstfloortheater.com. I'll be out for the press opening May 11th, so check back soon for my full review.

Passions ignite when Layla, an intense literature professor, accuses Imran, a brashly iconoclastic novelist, of trading in anti-Muslim stereotypes. But as their attraction grows into something more, they discover that good sex doesn't always make good bedfellows. Conflicting cultural identities collide in this thornily clever antidote to a meet-cute romance.

Comments Director Arti Ishak, “As an actor I’ve experienced first-hand how Muslim stories get filtered through the lens of whiteness, whether it’s pining to prove we’re ‘just like you,’ playing up the exotic other, or blatantly leaning into stereotypes. Muslim Americans deserve nuanced representation that asks us to wrestle with our intracommunity issues while tangled in a story about messy human connection. Rehana Lew Mirza’s Hatefuck is the modern Muslim love story I’ve been waiting for and I’m ready to help bring that story to Chicago as my directing debut.”

The production team includes Paloma Locsin (Scenic and Props Designer), Isaac Pineda (Costumes Designer), Ben Carne (Lighting Designer), Troy Cruz (Sound Designer), Samantha Kaufman (Fight and Intimacy Director), Layla Bahmanziari* (Assistant Director/Dramaturg), Shelbi Weaver* (Production Manager), Anastar Alvarez* (Director of Production) and Devonte Washington (Stage Manager).

*Denotes FFT company members

Cast: Aila Peck (Layla) and Faiz Siddique (Imran)

Understudies: Ben Matthew (Imran) and Donya Rahimi (Layla)

 

Location: The Den Theatre (2B),1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago

Dates: Previews: Friday, May 5 at 8 pm, Saturday, May 6 at 8 pm, Sunday, May 7 at 3 pm and Wednesday, May 10 at 8 pm

Press Performance: Thursday, May 11 at 8 pm

Regular Run: Friday, May 12 – Saturday, June 10, 2023

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will be an added performance on Saturday, June 10 at 3 pm

Industry Nights: Monday, May 22 at 8 pm and Monday, June 5 at 8 pm

Understudy Performance: Wednesday, May 31 at 8 pm

Tickets: Previews: $0 - $20. Regular Run: $0 – $35. In the spirit of bringing accessibility to the theatre, a limited number of free tickets are available for each performance. Use the code FREE to unlock 1 complimentary ticket (subject to availability). Tickets are now on sale at firstfloortheater.com.

 

About the Artists

Rehana Lew Mirza (Playwright, she/her) is a playwright, writer and creator. Her plays include: Hatefuck (WP/Colt Coeur); A People’s Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now (Primary Stages Toulmin commission); Soldier X (Ma‐Yi); Tomorrow, Inshallah (Living Room Theater; Storyworks/ HuffPost commission); Neighborhood Watch (NNPN/InterAct commission) and Barriers (Desipina, Asian American Theater Company).

With her husband Mike Lew, she shared a Mellon Foundation National Playwright residency administered in partnership with Howlround at Ma‐Yi Theater, where they co‐wrote The Colonialism Project (La Jolla Playhouse commission) and the musical Bhangin’ It, with composer/lyricist Sam Willmott (La Jolla Playhouse 2022; Richard Rodgers Award; Rhinebeck Writers Retreat; Project Springboard).

Additional honors include: 2021 Cape Cod Theatre Project Artist‐in‐Residence, 2020 Kleban Award, 2019 NYFA Fellow, HBO Access Fellow, Lilly Award (Stacey Mindich “Go Write A Play”), and a TCG/New Georges Fellowship. MFA: Columbia University; BFA: NYU Tisch. www.rehanamirza.com

Arti Ishak (Director, they/them) is an actor, director and community organizer, recently named a 3Arts Make A Wave Artist. Directing credits include short films Shukran Bas (Means of Productions), Sun On Ice (Jackalope), BaLa (HF Productions). Catch their upcoming directing work on stage with SAME SECTS! by Paul Michael Thomson, produced as part of Haven Chicago’s Directors Haven. Recent acting credits include The Best Decision You Ever Made (The Second City), KISS (Haven), Venus in Fur (Circle), Witch (Writers), Buried Child (Writers), Men on Boats (American Theater Company), Fantastic Super Great Nation Numero Uno (The Second City). TV: Southside (HBO), Dark Matter (NBC), Chicago Med (NBC). Arti is staff with The Chicago Inclusion Project, an instructor at Black Box Acting and an organizer with SWANASA Central. They are represented by Paonessa Talent Agency. www.artiishak.com

About First Floor Theater 

Founded in 2012, First Floor Theater has garnered a reputation for pairing some of the most cutting-edge scripts in Chicago and the American Theater with a signature innovative design style. Shortly after their inaugural season, FFT was named “Best New Theater Company” in the Chicago Reader. FFT was also honored to be recognized with the 2018 Francesca Primus Prize from ATCA for their production of Leah Nanako-Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, and in Newcity’s Players 2019: “The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago”. Some of First Floor’s notable past productions include Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, Mike Pence Sex Dream, Two Mile Hollow, peerless and Plano. First Floor Theater is a Resident Company at The Den Theatre. 

First Floor Theater Launches Tenth Season with Chicago Premiere of BOTTICELLI IN THE FIRE September 22 – November 5, 2022

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

 First Floor Theater is pleased to launch its Tenth Season with the Chicago premiere of Jordan Tannahill’s Botticelli in the Fire, a hot-blooded queering of Renaissance Italy that questions the value of art at the collapse of society. Directed by Bo Frazier, Botticelli in the Fire plays September 22 – November 5, 2022 at The Den’s Janet Bookspan Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets available at firstfloortheater.com. 

The cast of First Floor Theater’s Chicago premiere of Botticelli in the Fire includes (top, l to r) Neala Barron, Yuchi Chiu and Andrew Cutler (bottom, l to r) Christopher Meister, John Payne, Alex Benito Rodriguez and Jenece Upton.

Playboy Sandro Botticelli has it all: talent, fame, good looks. He also has the ear – and the wife – of Lorenzo de Medici, as well as the Renaissance’s hottest young apprentice, Leonardo Da Vinci. But while at work on his breakthrough commission, ‘The Birth of Venus’, Botticelli’s devotion to pleasure and beauty is put to the ultimate test. As the plague sweeps through the city, the charismatic friar Savonarola starts to stoke the fires of dissent against the liberal elite. Botticelli finds the life he knows breaking terrifyingly apart, forcing him to choose between love and survival. Jordan Tannahill’s hot-blooded queering of Renaissance Italy questions the value of art at the collapse of society.

The production team to date includes Lauren Nichols (Scenic Designer), Benjamin Carne (Lighting Designer), Willow James (Sound Designer), Caitlin McCarthy* (Props Designer), Micah Figueroa (Intimacy and Fight Choreographer), Andres Fonesca (Musical Director), Adelina Feldman-Schultz (Casting Director), Anastar Alvarez* (Production Manager) and Oswald Avile (Stage Manager).

*Denotes FFT Company Member

Location: The Den’s Janet Bookspan Theatre,1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, September 22 at 7:30 pm, Saturday, September 24 at 7:30 pm, Sunday, September 25 at 3 pm and Wednesday, September 28 at 7:30 pm.

Press Performance: Thursday, September 29 at 7:30 pm

Regular Run: Friday, September 30 – Saturday, November 5, 2022

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm

Industry Nights: Monday, October 10 at 7:30 pm and Monday, October 24 at 7:30 pm

Tickets: Previews: $10. Regular Run: $25 – $35. Students/industry $20. Tickets go on sale Monday, August 15, 2022 firstfloortheater.com.

 

About the Artists

Jordan Tannahill (Playwright, he/him) is a Canadian writer and director. He has been described as being ‘widely celebrated as one of Canada’s most accomplished young playwrights, filmmakers and all-around multidisciplinary artists’ (Toronto Star), and ‘the enfant terrible of Canadian theatre’ (Libération). His plays have been translated into ten languages and widely honored in Canada and abroad. He has twice received a Governor General's Literary Award – in 2014 for Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays, and in 2018 for his plays Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom. His plays, performance texts and productions have been presented at venues including The Young Vic Theatre (London), Sadler's Wells (London), The Kitchen (NYC), Festival d'Avignon (Avignon), The Lincoln Centre (NYC), The Deutsches Theater (Berlin), The Volkstheater (Vienna), The National Arts Centre of Canada (Ottawa), Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Washington, D.C.) and on London's West End. He is the author of Theatre of the Unimpressed, a book of essays on theatre. His debut novel Liminal, a work of autofiction, was named one of the best Canadian novels of 2018 by CBC Books and won France’s 2021 Prix des Jeunes Libraires. His second novel, The Listeners, has just been published by HarperCollins. His virtual reality performance Draw Me Close, produced by the National Theatre (UK) and the National Film Board of Canada, was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival and Venice Biennale in 2017, and ran at London's Young Vic Theatre in January 2019. Jordan has also worked in dance, choreographing and performing with Christopher House in Marienbad for the Toronto Dance Theatre, and writing the text for Akram Khan's dance pieces Xenos and Outwitting the Devil, both currently touring internationally. From 2012 – 2016, in collaboration with William Ellis, Jordan ran the alternative art space Videofag out of their home in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighbourhood. Over the four years of its operation, Videofag became an influential hub for queer and avant-garde work in Canada.

Bo Frazier (Director, they/them) is a highly visual and compositionally driven theatre maker interested in new work that tells traditionally excluded narratives in extremely imaginative ways. They are so incredibly excited to be making their Chicago directing debut with First Floor! Since moving to Chicago in 2021, they have worked with Victory Gardens, Sideshow Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, BoHo Theatre, Filament Theatre and Mudlark Theatre. Favorite directing and choreography projects include: Hit The Wall by Ike Holter, Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus, Love & Information by Caryl Churchill, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens, Bright Star the musical, as well as new play productions by Dakota Parobek, C. Meaker, Leigh M. Marshall and KT Peterson.  Previously based in NYC and London, Bo has worked with companies such as The National Theatre (UK), Birmingham Rep (UK), Greenwich Theatre (UK), Signature Theatre (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), Rutgers University (NJ), Theatre167 (NYC), Heartbeat Opera (NYC), Indiana Repertory Theatre (IN) and London Theatre Workshop Off-West End (UK), which they co-founded. They hold an MFA in Directing from University of Iowa alongside the Iowa Playwright’s Workshop, a MA in Acting from Royal Birmingham UK Conservatoire, a BA in Theatre from Millikin University, and was trained through SITI Company. www.bofrazier.com 

About First Floor Theater

Founded in 2012, First Floor Theater has garnered a reputation for pairing some of the most cutting-edge scripts in Chicago and the American Theater with a signature innovative design style. Shortly after their inaugural season, FFT was named “Best New Theater Company” in the Chicago Reader. FFT was also honored to be recognized with the 2018 Francesca Primus Prize from ATCA for their production of Leah Nanako-Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, and in Newcity’s Players 2019: “The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago”. Some of First Floor’s notable past productions include Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, Mike Pence Sex Dream, Two Mile Hollow, peerless and Plano. First Floor Theater is a Resident Company at The Den Theatre. 

REVIEW: I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD Via First Floor Theater at The Den Theatre April 20 – May 18, 2019

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Chicago Premiere!

First Floor Theater Presents

I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD

By Halley Feiffer

Directed by Cole von Glahn

April 20 – May 18, 2019 at The Den Theatre


(left to right) Amanda Caryl Fink and Tim Kidwell. All Production Photos by WHO IS SHE.

Review
by bonnie kenaz-mara

This fast paced one act puts the nuclear in family, exploring fallout and contamination that lasts generations. Families are complicated, especially when the principal players are driven narcissists with ongoing patterns of abuse. First Floor Theater's latest, a father/daughter drama in this vein, packs a punch. I'm sure it helps that director, Cole von Glahn, has degrees in both Drama and Sociology, because this play is nothing if not dysfunctional relationship based. Sadly, these familial patterns do get passed down through generations, and even when growth and change occurs, there is lasting damage and often role reversals from victims to abusers. Amanda Caryl Fink as Ella and Tim Kidwell as her father David, expertly embody the narcissistic, competitive, destructive dynamic that ricochets from desperate declarations of love and need for approval to loathing and estrangement. 

I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD is an intense exploration of the family dynamic of an award winning playwright and his adoring adult daughter and verbal punching bag. It's not always easy to watch the mind games, withholding, addiction, and verbal abuse, or the soul crushing sparring. Yet I'm intrigued by this man's petty cruelty, bullying, and back peddling on what I imagine are actual truths of his youth. This production is an interesting foray into regret, mining family traumas for fodder for creative works, struggle as a necessary precursor for artistic success, and the emotional toll of an industry where success depends on the approval of others and rave reviews. 





I'm also fascinated to see another on stage connection made between substance abuse and religion, with a character sliding between two seemingly opposite poles, that attract the same demographic time and again. I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD features David's lifelong habit of prayer that evolves from sarcasm and retribution to sincerity and contrition. Meanwhile, Ella devolves from  a doormat to a dominant, derisive version of her father, while David trades drug addiction and alcoholism for religious addiction and AA. At least the latter is less likely to kill you. There is little action and simplistic set design, and ultimately the outcome is not unexpected, but this production is well played and worth a look. Recommended.

Bonnie Kenaz-Mara is a Chicago based writer-theater critic-photographer-videographer-actress-artist-general creatrix and Mama to two terrific teens. She owns two websites where she has published frequently since 2008: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly).



First Floor Theater is pleased to conclude its seventh season with the Chicago premiere of Halley Feiffer’s blisteringly funny play I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD, directed by Cole von Glahn, playing April 20 – May 18, 2019 at FFT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at firstfloortheater.com. 

I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD features Amanda Caryl Fink and Tim Kidwell.

Ella is a precocious and fiercely competitive actress with a desperate need to make her father David, a famous playwright, proud. Over the course of a boozy, drug-fueled evening, Ella and David pass the time digging into family history, artistic passion and unspoken fears as they wait for the reviews, but what is unearthed can't simply be reburied. This daring play pulls the audience into the middle of a deeply complicated relationship, exploring how we build and break idealized versions of our loved ones.

The production team for I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD includes: Joy Ahn (scenic design), Alexis Chaney (costume design), Becca Jeffords (lighting design), Sarah Espinoza (sound design), Claire Stone (properties design), Carrie Hardin (dialect coach), Anastar Alvarez (stage manager) and Caitlin McCarthy (production manager).


Location: The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago

Regular Run: Friday, April 26 – Saturday, May 18, 2019

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm.

Industry Nights: Monday, April 29 at 7:30 pm and Monday, May 13 at 7:30 pm.

Tickets: Previews: $8. Regular Run: $25. Students $20. Tickets are currently available at firstfloortheater.com.


About the Artists
Halley Feiffer (Playwright) Halley Feiffer is a New York-based writer and actress. Her plays have been produced, commissioned and developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, New York Theatre Workshop, LAByrinth Theater Company, The O’Neill, The Orchard Project, Berkshire Theatre Group, Naked Angels, Cape Cod Theatre Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Keen Company, Partial Comfort Productions and the Amoralists. She is currently working on a stage adaption of THE BOY KINGS, Kate Losse's memoir about working at Facebook during its rising year. Halley is an alumna of terraNOVA’s Groundbreakers Playwrights’ Group, a former resident writer for Blue Man Group, former Playwright in Residence at Stella Adler Studio and a winner of the Young Playwrights Competition and the Lotos Foundation Prize. She is currently under commission by Manhattan Theatre Club/The Sloan Foundation, Jen Hoguet Productions and Playwrights Horizons. Her work is published by Dramatists Play Service, Overlook Press, Vintage Books, Applause Books, and Smith & Kraus. Halley co-wrote and starred in the 2013 film HE'S WAY MORE FAMOUS THAN YOU, and co-created and stars in the web series WHAT'S YOUR EMERGENCY for Stage17.tv (both directed by Michael Urie). She holds a BA from Wesleyan University.

Cole von Glahn (Director) Cole von Glahn is a Chicago-based director and production manager. He has been working with First Floor since moving to Chicago in 2015 before becoming the Director of Production in 2016. In that time, he has produced over a dozen company shows and events. Additionally, Cole serves as the Production Manager at Raven Theatre. In the past, he has administered and managed with Cherry Lane, Neverbird Project, Cleveland Play House, Northlight Theatre, and Marin Theatre Company. Outside of theatre, Cole is a board game designer and collaborative storyteller. He holds degrees in Drama and Sociology from Tufts University.



About First Floor Theater
Founded in 2012, First Floor Theater stages stories of individuals facing moments of radical change. Through a process of collaborative dramaturgy, FFT expands these stories to ask urgent social questions. For more information on First Floor Theater, visit firstfloortheater.com.

OPENING: Chicago Premiere of I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD Via First Floor Theater April 20 – May 18, 2019 at The Den Theatre

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

Chicago Premiere!

First Floor Theater Presents

I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD

By Halley Feiffer

Directed by Cole von Glahn


April 20 – May 18, 2019 at The Den Theatre

Tim Kidwell and Amanda Caryl Fink in a publicity image for First Floor Theater’s Chicago premiere of I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD. Photo by Sam Doyle Photography.

I'll be out for the press opening April 24th, so check back soon for my full review. First Floor Theater is pleased to conclude its seventh season with the Chicago premiere of Halley Feiffer’s blisteringly funny play I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD, directed by Cole von Glahn, playing April 20 – May 18, 2019 at FFT’s resident home, The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at firstfloortheater.com. 

Ella is a precocious and fiercely competitive actress with a desperate need to make her father David, a famous playwright, proud. Over the course of a boozy, drug-fueled evening, Ella and David pass the time digging into family history, artistic passion and unspoken fears as they wait for the reviews, but what is unearthed can't simply be reburied. This daring play pulls the audience into the middle of a deeply complicated relationship, exploring how we build and break idealized versions of our loved ones.

The production team for I’M GONNA PRAY FOR YOU SO HARD includes: Joy Ahn (scenic design), Alexis Chaney (costume design), Becca Jeffords (lighting design), Sarah Espinoza (sound design), Claire Stone (properties design), Carrie Hardin (dialect coach), Anastar Alvarez (stage manager) and Caitlin McCarthy (production manager).


Cast: (in alphabetical order): Amanda Caryl Fink (Ella) and Tim Kidwell (David).

Location: The Den Theatre (2B), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago
Dates: Previews: Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 pm, Sunday, April 21 at 3 pm and Tuesday, April 23 at 7:30 pm.
Press Performance: Wednesday, April 24 at 7:30 pm
Regular Run: Friday, April 26 – Saturday, May 18, 2019
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm.
Industry Nights: Monday, April 29 at 7:30 pm and Monday, May 13 at 7:30 pm.
Tickets: Previews: $8. Regular Run: $25. Students $20. Tickets are currently available at firstfloortheater.com.

About the Artists
Halley Feiffer (Playwright) Halley Feiffer is a New York-based writer and actress. Her plays have been produced, commissioned and developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, New York Theatre Workshop, LAByrinth Theater Company, The O’Neill, The Orchard Project, Berkshire Theatre Group, Naked Angels, Cape Cod Theatre Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Keen Company, Partial Comfort Productions and the Amoralists. She is currently working on a stage adaption of THE BOY KINGS, Kate Losse's memoir about working at Facebook during its rising year. Halley is an alumna of terraNOVA’s Groundbreakers Playwrights’ Group, a former resident writer for Blue Man Group, former Playwright in Residence at Stella Adler Studio and a winner of the Young Playwrights Competition and the Lotos Foundation Prize. She is currently under commission by Manhattan Theatre Club/The Sloan Foundation, Jen Hoguet Productions and Playwrights Horizons. Her work is published by Dramatists Play Service, Overlook Press, Vintage Books, Applause Books, and Smith & Kraus. Halley co-wrote and starred in the 2013 film HE'S WAY MORE FAMOUS THAN YOU, and co-created and stars in the web series WHAT'S YOUR EMERGENCY for Stage17.tv (both directed by Michael Urie). She holds a BA from Wesleyan University.

Cole von Glahn (Director) Cole von Glahn is a Chicago-based director and production manager. He has been working with First Floor since moving to Chicago in 2015 before becoming the Director of Production in 2016. In that time, he has produced over a dozen company shows and events. Additionally, Cole serves as the Production Manager at Raven Theatre. In the past, he has administered and managed with Cherry Lane, Neverbird Project, Cleveland Play House, Northlight Theatre, and Marin Theatre Company. Outside of theatre, Cole is a board game designer and collaborative storyteller. He holds degrees in Drama and Sociology from Tufts University.

About First Floor Theater
Founded in 2012, First Floor Theater stages stories of individuals facing moments of radical change. Through a process of collaborative dramaturgy, FFT expands these stories to ask urgent social questions. For more information on First Floor Theater, visit firstfloortheater.com.

OPENING: World Premiere of REFRIGERATOR Via First Floor Theater at The Den 5/13-6/9/18

Chi IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

World Premiere!

First Floor Theater Presents 

REFRIGERATOR

By Lucas Baisch

Directed by Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel

May 13 – June 9, 2018 at The Den Theatre

I'll be ChiILin' with Chi, IL's First Floor Theater at The Den, on May 20th, so check back soon for my full review. Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we were impressed with the passion and creativity of their last production, Dontrell Who Kissed The Sea. We're eager to see their latest, the world premiere of Refrigerator, developed in Goodman's 2016-17 Playwrights Unit. 

First Floor Theater is thrilled to continue their sixth season with the world premiere of Lucas Baisch’s poetic and poignant drama REFRIGERATOR, directed by artistic director Hutch Pimentel. REFRIGERATOR will play May 13 – June 9, 2018 at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are on sale now at firstfloortheater.com. 

Pictured (top, l to r): Shariba Rivers and Avi Roque (bottom, l to r) Nathaniel Andrew, Kevin Stangler and Andrew Cutler. 

REFRIGERATOR features First Floor company members Andrew Cutler, Shariba Rivers and Avi Roque, with Nathaniel Andrew and Kevin Stangler. 

Eighty-two percent of the planet's people have dispensed with their physical bodies and uploaded their consciousnesses to IceBox in hopes of reaching a digital paradise. Some of the last employees of IceBox and Co. continue to provide transitional services for clients making the ascent. Benjamin has won the lottery, and as he spends his last day in the office, his coworkers battle with their own moral and socioeconomic inability to abandon their individual visions of reality. REFRIGERATOR asks what it is and what it should be.

This play was commissioned by The Goodman Theatre as a part of the 2016-17 Playwrights Unit.

The production team for REFRIGERATOR includes William Boles (scenic design), Uriel Gomez (costume design), Jared Gooding (lighting design), Thomas Dixon (sound design), Amanda Cantlin (props design), Sid Branca (video design), Charlie Baker (fight and intimacy choreographer), Morgan McNaught (dramaturg), Katrina Dion (dramaturg), Bobby Huggins (technical director), Caitlin McCarthy (production manager) and Aaryanna Renee (stage manager).

Location: The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago
Dates: Previews: Sunday, May 13 at 3 pm and Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30 pm
Press Performance: Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30 pm
Regular Run: Friday, May 18 – Saturday, June 9, 2018
Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Sundays at 3 pm.
Tickets: Previews: $5. Regular Run: $10 - $20. Tickets are on sale now at firstfloortheater.com.



About the Creative Team
Lucas Baisch (Playwright) is a playwright and visual artist, originally from San Francisco, based in both Chicago and Providence. Most recently, he has been commissioned as a member of The Goodman Theatre's 2016-17 Playwrights Unit. His work has been read and developed at Chicago Dramatists, InFusion Theatre Company, Salonathon, Victory Gardens Theater, Links Hall, Gloucester Stage, American Theatre Company, The Neo-Futurists, The Wulfden, The DeYoung Museum, SF Playground, etc. Productions include: Refrigerator (First Floor Theatre), The Scavengers (The Healy Theater at DePaul University) and A Measure of Normalcy (Gloucester Stage Company). Next, his artwork will be shown at the RISD Museum as part of “From the Loom of a Goddess: Reverberations of Guatemalan Maya Weaving” opened in February. Baisch is currently pursuing his MFA in Playwriting at Brown University. Education: BFA Playwriting, DePaul University.

Hutch Pimentel (Director) is a director and producer in Chicago. He is the Artistic Director of First Floor Theater where he's directed Polaroid Stories, Edith Can Shoot Things & Hit Them and Animals Commit Suicide, peerless, Two Mile Hollow and produced numerous other shows. During his time in Chicago, he's had the pleasure of working at About Face Theatre, American Theater Company, Polarity Ensemble, Redmoon, The Gift Theatre, The Goodman and Victory Gardens. He's worked outside of Chicago at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Vineyard Theatre. He is an Associate Member of SDC and graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.



About First Floor Theater
First Floor Theater stages stories of individuals facing moments of radical change. Through a process of collaborative dramaturgy, FFT expands these stories to ask urgent social questions. FFT was named the "Best New Theater Company" in the Chicago Reader's Best of 2013 Reader's Pick edition. First Floor Theater is a Resident Company at The Den Theatre.

For more information on First Floor Theater, visit firstfloortheater.com.

OPENING: Chicago premiere of DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA Via First Floor Theater at The Den Theatre

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

First Floor Theater Presents the Chicago Premiere of

DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA

By Nathan Alan Davis

Directed by Chika Ike

March 4 – 31, 2018 at The Den Theatre

First Floor Theater is pleased to continue their sixth season with the Chicago premiere of Nathan Alan Davis’s poetic and poignant drama, DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA, directed by Chika Ike. DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA will play March 4 – 31, 2018 at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently on sale at firstfloortheater.com.

The cast includes First Floor company member Shariba Rivers, with Brianna Buckley, Jerome Beck, Kayla Raelle Holder, Brian Nelson Jr., Destiny Strothers and Jalen Gilbert as Dontrell.

Eighteen-year-old Dontrell Jones the Third decides it is his duty and destiny to venture into the Atlantic Ocean in search of an ancestor lost during the Middle Passage, but his family isn’t ready to abandon its prized son to the waters of a mysterious and haunting past.

Blending poetry, humor, wordplay and ritual, DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA is a modern-day hero’s quest exploring the lengths and depths we must go to redeem history’s wrongs. The play has been called “a mesmerizing blend of magical realism and poetic social comment” by The Los Angeles Times and “the most important play on DC stages” by The DC Theatre Scene.

The production team for DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA includes Eleanor Kahn (scenic design), Uriel Gomez (costume design), Rachel Levy (lighting design), Sarah D. Espinoza (sound design), Samantha Myers (props design), Breon Arzell (choreography), Bobby Huggins (technical director), Cole von Glahn (production manager) and Kayla Menz (stage manager).

About the Creative Team



Nathan Alan Davis (Playwright) is a playwright based in New York. His plays include Nat Turner in Jerusalem (NYTW), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (NNPN Rolling World Premiere; Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation) and The Wind and the Breeze (New Harmony Project Residency; Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Lorraine Hansberry Award). He is currently developing projects with The Public Theater, McCarter Theatre, Arena Stage and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Nathan is a Lecturer in Theater at Princeton University, a Usual Suspect at NYTW and a 2016 graduate of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. MFA: Indiana University. BFA: University of Illinois.  

Chika Ike (Director) is a Chicago-based freelance director. She is also an ensemble member at The Gift Theatre Company and has received the SDCF Gielgud Directing Fellowship, the Victory Garden Directing Initiative Fellowship, and the Bret. C. Harte Directing Fellowship at Berkeley Rep. She has worked with many Chicago and regional theatre companies, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Victory Gardens, The Gift Theatre Company, American Blues Theatre Company, Eclipse Theatre, and Prologue Theatre Company. Her most recent productions: A Swell in the Ground by Janine Nabers for The Gift Theatre, Lloyd Suh’s Franklinland for Jackalope Theatre Company.



About First Floor Theater
First Floor Theater stages stories of individuals facing moments of radical change. Through a process of collaborative dramaturgy, FFT expands these stories to ask urgent social questions. FFT was named the "Best New Theater Company" in the Chicago Reader's Best of 2013 Reader's Pick edition. First Floor Theater is a Resident Company at The Den Theatre.

For more information on First Floor Theater, visit firstfloortheater.com.

OPENING: World Premiere of TWO MILE HOLLOW Via First Floor Theater at The Den 10/8-11/4/17

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

World Premiere!

First Floor Theater Presents 

TWO MILE HOLLOW

By Leah Nanako Winkler

Directed by Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel

October 8 - November 4, 2017

PHOTO CREDIT: (left to right) Deanna L. Myers, Kai Ealy, Jazmín Corona and Jose Nateras in a publicity image for First Floor Theater’s world premiere of TWO MILE HOLLOW. 

Photo by Sam Doyle. 

First Floor Theater open its sixth season with the world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s explosive satire of the classic white American family drama, TWO MILE HOLLOW, directed by Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel. TWO MILE HOLLOW will play October 8 – November 4, 2017 at The Den Theatre, 1333 N Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are on sale now at firstfloortheater.com. 

The cast includes First Floor company member Aurora Adachi-Winter with Jazmín Corona, Kai Ealy, Deanna L. Myers and Jose Nateras.

When the Donnellys gather to divide their belongings after the sale of their oceanfront mansion, both metaphorical and literal storms are brewing. As this famous, longing-to-be-famous and completely messy Caucasian family comes together with their POC personal assistant, Charlotte, some really really complicated and totally unique secrets are revealed over white wine. A satirical takedown coupled with moments of disorienting sincerity, TWO MILE HOLLOW explores the age old genre of plays about affluent white families retreating to their waterfront homes to battle it out with brutality, awe and compassion. Only this time, none of the white characters are played by white actors. 

The production team for TWO MILE HOLLOW includes Arnel Sancianco (scenic design), Virginia Varland (costume design), Dan Friedman (lighting design), Sarah D. Espinoza (sound design), Claire Stone (props design), Carol Ann Tan (dramaturg), Cole von Glahn (production manager) and Julie Leghorn (stage manager).

Location: The Den Theatre, 1333 N Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago

Dates: Previews: Sunday, October 8 at 8 pm and Tuesday, October 10 at 8 pm

Press Performance: Wednesday, October 11 at 8 pm

Regular Run: Thursday, October 12 - Saturday, November 4, 2017

Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 3 pm.

Tickets: Previews: Pay What You Can. Regular Run: $10 - $20. Tickets are on sale now at firstfloortheater.com.

About the Creative Team

Leah Nanako Winkler (Playwright) is a playwright whose plays  include Kentucky (2015 Kilroys List, World Premiere with EST & Page 73, Radio Drama Network, West Coast Premiere with East West Players), Death For Sydney Black (TerraNova Collective and Kilroys honorable mention), The Internet (Incubator Arts Project), Happy Dance Dance Princess Show (The Brick), Double Suicide At Ueno Park!!!,  Linus and Murray (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and more. Next season, her play Two Mile Hollow will be seen at First Floor Theater in Chicago, Ferocious Lotus in San Francisco, Artists at Play in Los Angeles and Mixed Blood Theatre/Mu Performing Arts in Minneapolis. She is an alumni of Youngblood, Terra Nova Collective’s Groundbreakers Playwright Group, a member of the Dorothy Streslin New American Playwrights Group at Primary Stages, Ma Yi and an affiliated artist at New Georges. Her collections of short plays, Nagoriyuki & Other Short Plays and The Lowest Form of Writing are available on Amazon. She is an MFA candidate at  Brooklyn College.

Hutch Pimentel (Director) is a director and producer in Chicago. He is the Artistic Director of First Floor Theater where he’s directed Polaroid Stories, Edith Can Shoot Things & Hit Them and Animals Commit Suicide, peerless and produced numerous other shows. During his time in Chicago, he’s had the pleasure of working at About Face Theatre, American Theater Company, Polarity Ensemble, Redmoon, The Gift Theatre, The Goodman and Victory Gardens. He’s worked outside of Chicago at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Vineyard Theatre. He is an Associate Member of SDC and graduated from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

About First Floor Theater

First Floor Theater stages stories of individuals facing moments of radical change. Through a process of collaborative dramaturgy, FFT expands these stories to ask urgent social questions. FFT was named the "Best New Theater Company" in the Chicago Reader's Best of 2013 Reader's Pick edition. First Floor Theater is a Resident Company at The Den Theatre.

For more information on First Floor Theater, visit firstfloortheater.com.