First Floor Theater to Present Chicago Premiere of WORLD BUILDERS

First Floor Theater (FFT) is thrilled to announce the third show of their fourth season, the Chicago premiere of Johnna Adams' WORLD BUILDERS, a funny, intimate portrayal of two individuals trying to balance mental illness and meaningful human connection, by the playwright of the Chicago hit, Gidion's Knot.

FFT Company Member Jesse Roth directs this powerful Chicago premiere, playing June 5 - July 2 at Collaboraction's Room 300 Theater in The Flat Iron Arts Building. The press opening will be Sunday, June 5, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.

Tickets for WORLD BUILDERS will be available at firstfloortheater.com.

WORLD BUILDERS features Associate Artistic Director Andrew Cutler with Carmen Molina.

A new drug has been developed to suppress the complex internal worlds of those with schizoid personality disorder, allowing them to focus on the reality in front of them. Max and Whitney are two participants in a clinical trial, and as the drug begins to take effect , they must choose which dream to pursue: their disparate fantasies or a future together. In this beautifully observed love story, we are forced to reckon with our own conceptions of mental illness and what it means to be "cured". Company Member Jesse Roth, a regular collaborator with The New Colony and The House Theater, helms this intimate Chicago premiere, her first mainstage production with FFT.

"We are proud to close out our mainstage season with this delicate and arresting play," says Artistic Director, Hutch Pimentel "In a season that concerned itself with madness and how we escape from it, this play provides a beautiful counterpoint. What if connection is possible, not in spite of, but because of our insanities?"

The production team for WORLD BUILDERS includes: Eleanor Kahn (scenic design), Meghann Patten (costume design), David Goodman-Edberg (lighting design), Karli Blalock (sound design), Rebecca Adelsheim (dramaturg), Veronica Bustoz (stage manager) and Artistic Producer Will Bishop (production manager).

Johnna Adams received a Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation in 2013 for her play Gidion's Knot. She is the 2011 recipient of the Princess Grace Award and a 2012 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Gidion's Knot was published in the December 2012 edition of American Theatre Magazine. The Contemporary American Theater Festival premiered Gidion's Knot in 2012 and twelve regional productions were planned around the country in the following 2013-14 season. Flux Theatre Ensemble (New York) produced her play Sans Merci in 2013 and was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for best play. Gidion's Knot and Sans Merci are published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Johnna received a 2012 MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College with Tina Howe.

Jesse Roth is a Chicago-based theatre director. Her recent work includes directing the world premiere of The Terrible at The New Colony, directing The Distance to the Moon at Collaboraction's Sketchbook Festival and assistant directing The Last Defender and The Hammer Trinity at the House Theatre of Chicago. She has also worked at Steppenwolf Theatre, Court Theater, A Red Orchid Theatre, Red Tape Theatre, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, The Den Theatre, Young American's Theatre Company, and Seattle Shakespeare Company. She is a company member at First Floor Theater and graduated from the University of Chicago's Theater and Performance Studies program.

First Floor Theater stages stories of individuals facing moments of radical change. By combining visceral acting, immersive design, and 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.

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