PRO-AM World Premiere, IN HIS HANDS Chicago Premiere & More Set for First Floor Theater 2024 Season

First Floor Theater has revealed its 11th Season, featuring a world premiere, a Chicago premiere and the continuation of The Blueprint Commission, FFT’s new play development initiative.

 

"For our 11th Season, First Floor Theater will continue to produce works that center on moments of personal revolution,” says Artistic Producer Andrew Cutler. “We're looking forward to sharing these plays that ask us to radically reimagine our relationships to important pillars of identity such as faith and work with our audience. We couldn't be more thrilled to continue to present powerful, innovative theater to the people of Chicago, and continue to foster bold new voices in the American Theatre."

 

First Floor Theater’s 2024 Season includes:

 

The Chicago Premiere of

In His Hands

By Benjamin Benne, Directed by Ismael Lara Jr.

February 29 – March 30, 2024

Press opening: Thursday, March 7 at 8 pm

 

This is a list of things Christian believes in: logic, banana Laffy Taffy, video games and Daniel. This is a list of things Christian doesn't believe in: caffeine, alcohol, monogamy and God. Daniel, a Mario Kart wizard and aspiring Lutheran pastor, is falling for Christian. But as these men explore the potential of their new relationship, voices from Christian's past threaten to overpower the connection they share –  with one another, and something bigger than themselves.

 

The World Premiere of

Pro-Am

By Brynne Frauenhoffer, Directed by Rebecca Willingham

May 16 – June 15, 2024

Press opening: Thursday, May 23 at 8 pm

 

Most careers don’t last longer than three months in Miami’s professional-amateur porn scene. But that’s about to change when rising star Chloe Kendall meets the driven trans performer Nastasia. The girls are doing it for themselves now, and for the first time, people won’t just be watching them – they’ll be paying attention.

 

In His Hands and Pro-Am will take place at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, where First Floor is a resident company.

 

The Blueprint Commission

 

The Blueprint Commission is First Floor Theater’s new play development program. Through an extensive development process which includes two dedicated workshops over the life of the commission, we provide resources for commissioned writers and a team of theater artists to bring new, daring plays into being. The ultimate goal of this initiative is indicated by its name: we want to play a part in shaping the future of the American Theater. We want that future to be more inclusive, brave, and revolutionary than what has come before. This project is made possible by a generous donation from Michael and Mona Heath, of the HeathFund. 

 

This season, FFT has commissioned NJ Draine (they/them), a queer, black playwright and singer-songwriter (etc.) based in Chicago. They are most interested in exploring the bitingly absurd, the poetic, and the surreality of experiences yet to be realized. They are currently an MFA candidate in the Northwestern Writing for Screen and Stage program. 

 

Artist Biographies

 

Benjamin Benne (Playwright, In His Hands, he/him) is a member of Primary Stage's Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer Group and a Playwrights' Center Core Writer. His plays include Alma (Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre, American Blues Theater, ArtsWest Playhouse, Curious Theatre Company, Central Square Theater), In His Hands (Mosaic Theater Company) and What / Washed Ashore / Astray (Pillsbury House + Theatre). He has been the recipient of Portland Stage's Clauder Competition Grand Prize, Arizona Theatre Company's National Latinx Playwriting Award, the Kennedy Center's KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, American Blues' Blue Ink Playwriting Award and the Playwrights' Center's McKnight and Many Voices Fellowships, among others. The L.A. Times named him part of "LA Vanguardia: The Latino innovators, investigators, and power players breaking through barriers." He has been commissioned by South Coast Rep and Seattle Rep. MFA: Playwriting, David Geffen/Yale School of Drama '22. www.benjaminbenne.com

 

Ismael Lara, Jr. (Director, In His Hands, he/him) is a Mexican director, educator and producer. In recent years, his focus has been on bridging the gap between institutions and the Latiné community. Ismael has developed plays in collaboration with The Story, Cleveland Play House, Goodman Theatre, Paramount Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, National Museum of Mexican Art, Cleveland Public Theatre, Playwrights Local, Kane Rep, Rec Room Arts, Creede Repertory Theater, Lake Forest College, The Lark and National Queer Theatre. Selected credits include: Blood Wedding, In His Hands, The Displaced, Tomas & The Library Lady (Northwestern), Last Hermanos (A Red Orchid, world premiere), El Guayabo, La Casa Alfonsa (Creede Repertory Theatre, world premiere), The Thing I Hold (Hangar Theatre, Regional Premiere), And All the Dead Lie Down (convergence-continuum). Chicago Assistant credits include: Rust (Goodman Theatre, New Stages), American Mariachi (Goodman Theatre), I'm Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (Steppenwolf, world premiere), The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre, world premiere). Ismael is a recipient of the Hangar Drama League Fellowship and holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern.

 

Brynne Frauenhoffer (Playwright, Pro-Am, she/her) is a Chicago-based playwright. Past full-length productions of her work include Vape Naysh (First Floor Theater, 2020) and Bury Me (Dandelion Theatre, 2019). The Kilroys selected her play Pro-Am (developed with Sideshow Theatre) for inclusion on The List 2020. Other workshops and readings include The Young Ones (First Floor Theater), Synchronicity (Salt Lake Acting Company; also named 2018 Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference), Pizza Hut Heartbreaker (Commission Theatre Company) and Shitty Christians (Prop Thtr). Brynne’s short plays have been produced by Broken Nose Theatre, MadLab, American Blues Theater, Commission Theatre, and the Chicago One-Minute Play Festival. www.brynnefrau.com

 

Rebecca Willingham (Director, Pro-Am, she/her) is a director originally from Charlottesville, Virginia. She is thrilled to return to First Floor Theater where she previously directed Killed a Man (Joking), in collaboration with The Sound. Rebecca is the co-founder and Artistic Director of The Sound, where she directed Fleetwood Mac: The Album: The Musical, Seagulls (at Steppenwolf Lookout), Red Bowl at the Jeffs, and others. She recently graduated from the MFA Directing program at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she directed Indecent, Do You Feel Anger?, Much Ado About Nothing, Pieces That Remain and Lemons (x5). Rebecca is also an alumna of Emerson College, The National Theater Institute and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Upcoming: Seagulls (Oak Park Festival Theatre).

 

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. 

 

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