introducing…
It’s another season filled with game-changing premieres (!!!) and out-of-this-world playwright-director duos…aka it’s Season 11.
It’s going to be soooo stunning. Get ready to add this to your Google (or Apple, we don’t judge) Calendar.
You in for this one?
COMING UP IN SEASON 11…
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.
PRO-AM
BY BRYNNE FRAUENHOFFER, DIRECTED BY REBECCA WILLINGHAM
WORLD PREMIERE
MAY 16 - JUNE 15, 2024
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
BY BENJAMIN BENNE, DIRECTED BY micah figueroa
CHICAGO PREMIERE
JULY 25 - AUGUST 24, 2024
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.
MEET THE ARTISTS
*denotes First Floor Theater company member
BRYNNE FRAUENHOFFER
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
As of June 2023.
rebecca willingham
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’s 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).
As of June 2023.
BENJAMIN BENNE
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
As of June 2023.
micah figueroa*
Micah Figueroa (Director, In His Hands, he/him) is a Chicago based Director, Actor, Choreographer, Teaching Artist, and First Floor Theatre Company Member. He most recently adapted and directed The Distance for The Actor’s Gymnasium Spring Youth Circus, directed the Zoom recording of Makasha Copeland’s Fabuloso! at Sideshow Theatre Company, Peter and the Wolf by Rachel Copel at Odradek Theatre, and assistant directed Act(s) of God by Kareem Bandealy at Lookingglass Theatre. He has been a combination of Fight, Intimacy, Movement, and/or Circus Director variously at First Floor (Mike Pence Sex Dream, Plano, Botticelli in the Fire), Remy Bumppo, Writer’s, Actor’s Gymnasium, TimeLine, Steep, Haven, Northwestern University, UIC, Texas Christian University, and Northbrook Theatres as well as Dallas Theatre Center, and Shakespeare Dallas among others. Micah holds a degree in Theatre Studies (Directing and Playwriting) from Southern Methodist University and attended the British American Drama Academy in London, England.
As of February 2024.