Creative team continued…

Omer Abbas Salem (he/they) | Playwright is a Chicago actor and playwright. As an actor, he's worked with The Goodman, The New Coordinates, Jackalope Theatre, Steep Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Griffin Theatre, The House, Bailiwick Chicago, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Roundabout Theater, and The Atlantic Theater. His play Mosque4Mosque was developed through the National Queer Theater and then chosen for further development through Steppenwolf Theatre's SCOUT Program. The Secretaries was workshopped through The New Coordinates, a semi-finalist in Definition Theatre's Amplify Commission, and developed through the Goodman Theatre's Future Labs. Pretty Shahid was commissioned as part of Jackalope Theatre's 2020/21 New Frontier Series and Love in the Time of Jonestown was produced as a radio play by The New Coordinates. He is a member of the 2021/22 Goodman Playwrights Unit and is the recipient of the 2021 Cunningham Commission through DePaul University. He will also receive First Floor Theater’s Blueprint Commission in 2022. He was an apprentice of the Actors Theatre of Louisville (17/18) and a proud ensemble member with Steep Theatre, First Floor Theater, and The New Coordinates. He is represented by DDO Artist Agency and The Gersh Agency. More at www.omerabbassalem.com.

Laura Alcalá Baker (she/her) | Director is a Chicago-based director and casting director. She served as the Casting Director/Artistic Programs Manager at Victory Gardens Theater from 2016-2019 leading programs such as The Access Project and Directors’ Inclusion Initiative. Most recently, Laura directed the world premiere of Isaac Gomez’s The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre) and The Way She Spoke: A Docu-mythologia (DCASE, Greenhouse Theater Center). She also directed the audio drama BRAVA by Nancy Garcia Loza (Make-Believe Association) which is available on all podcast platforms. Other select works include: The Pillowman (The Gift Theatre), Equivocation, The Giver, 11:11, and Collapse (B Street Theater) There is No Message in the Message, Shamed (The Gift Theatre’s TEN), Project Potential (Broken Nose Theatre’s Bechdel Fest), and Jets, Sharks, and Beckys (Collaboraction's Peacebook Festival). Laura has continually sought out creative means for accessibility in the theatre through directing programs such as Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium’s Access Live, which provides theatre leaders a live example of growing practices integrated with accessibility in mind. She has led new play workshops and readings in institutions such as The New Colony, Paramount Theatre, and The Goodman. Laura is a proud member of the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists and was nominated for 'Best Casting Director' at the 2018 ALTA Awards and “Best Director - Brava” at the 2019 ALTA Awards. She was also Jeff Award Nominated for "Best Director" for her work on The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys. 

Eleanor Kahn (she/her) | Scenic Designer is returning for her fourth production with First Floor Theater! Kahn has worked extensively as a scenic and details designer, as well as an experiential, immersive, event and community-focused artist and designer. Career highlights include: creative director + designer for a lobby installation at Harris Theater; first artist-in-residence in Des Moines, IA, followed by creative directing + designing a block-long lighting experience in the same neighborhood; designer for an installation in Millennium Park; details designer for Hebru Brantley’s Nevermore Park, and scenic designer for The Fly Honey Show. Her full portfolio can be viewed at www.eleanorkahn.com.

Claire Sangster (she/her) | Lighting Designer’s work includes Life on Paper, Octagon, The Raid, Lunacy!, Crumble; Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake, Exit Strategy, The Killing of Michael X, The Annual Living Newspaper Festival (Jackalope Theatre), Blood at the Root, I & You (The Yard), Time is on Our Side (About Face Theater), Raised in Captivity (The Right Brain Project), The Fox Sisters, A Day in the Life (Lookingglass Youth Ensemble), By the Bog of Cats, The Seagull, Time of Your Life (Artistic Home),Bachelorette (Level 11 Theatre), I Saw Myself (Red Tape Theatre), Thrones! A Game of Thrones Parody Musical (The Apollo Theater), Human Terrain (Broken Nose Theater). She is a company member at Jackalope Theatre and holds a BA in Theater Design from Columbia College Chicago.

Andrew Littleton (he/him) | Sound Designer is excited to be working with First Floor Theater for the first time. Before designing The Secretaries, Andrew designed and engineered Tintypes, 1984, and Failure: A Love Story (Loyola University Chicago Dept. Fine and Performing Arts) as a student then pursued a Master's Degree in Sound Arts and Industries from Northwestern. Andrew normally works as an audio designer for indie game studios and as an audio programmer for PlayStation's San Diego Studio.

Isaac Pineda (he/him) | Costume Designer is a theatre artist hailing from Southern California and is a Columbia College Chicago alumni. Some favorite credits include; Hamlet (Invictus Theatre), The Things I Could Never Tell Steven (PrideArts), Waiting for Godot (Victory Gardens), A Man of No Importance, Orlando (Columbia College Chicago). Check out more of his work at www.isaacjaypineda.com.

Royen Kent (he/him) | Wig Designer is thrilled to work with First Floor Theater. He is a graduate student in speech-language pathology at Northwestern and occasionally performs in drag as Jenn der Fach. Recent wig design credits include Matilda the Musical (Highland Park Players). Recent acting credits include Shaun Bengson in Hundred Days (Kokandy Productions), Hello Again, The Full Monty (Theo Ubique), Emma (Lifeline Theatre), and Hatfield & McCoy (House Theatre of Chicago). Gratitude to Abbas, the creative team, and to Parker.

Oswald Avile (he/him) | Stage Management is excited to be working with First Floor on this production with an amazing team. Born and raised in Chicago, Oswald has been working in theatre since high school. Past work includes Tatjana in Color (Prologue Theatre Co), Fefu and Her Friends (Halcyon Theatre), The River (BoHo Theatre), and Hersel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Strawdog Theatre). In his spare time, Oswald works in healthcare.

Leo Batutis (they/them) | Associate Director is incredibly excited to be involved with their first production at First Floor Theater. Recent productions include Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, A Man of No Importance, and How I Learned to Drive (Columbia College Chicago). They graduated with a B.A. in playwriting and theatre directing from Columbia College Chicago in 2020, and spent the 2020-2021 academic year as a teaching assistant in the playwriting program, helping student playwrights develop and stage new works. Leo is also a company member at BoHo Theatre.

Kim Fukawa (she/her) | Hannah (u/s) is incredibly excited to be a part of this production. She has been seen with such companies as Lifeline Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, The House Theatre, and The Gift Theatre. She also appears regularly onstage with Babes With Blades Theatre Company where she is an Artistic Associate and occasional fight designer.

Bradley Halverson (they/them) | Henrietta (u/s) is thrilled to be working with First Floor! Recent credits include Harriet Smith/Miss Bates in Jane Austen’s Emma (First Folio Theatre) & Johnny Appleseed Folk Society (Inkwell Arts & Learning). Other credits include Tomfoolery (Third Avenue Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane Oakbrook), Yank: A WWII Love Story (Pride Films & Plays), High Fidelity the Musical (Refuge Theatre Project), They’re Playing Our Song (Brown Paper Box Co) and many others. Bradley holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and is represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent.

Jesi Mullins (she/her) | Helga (u/s) is delighted to be making her First Floor Theater debut! Recent credits include Bachelor - The Unauthorized Parody Musical, Love Actually? The Unauthorized Musical Parody (Apollo Theater); Macbeth (Spectrum Shakespeare), Exit the King, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (The Theatre School at DePaul); Elephant Man (Gallery Players). MFA, The Theatre School at DePaul University. Jesi is a certified actor combatant and proud member of the Society of American Fight Directors. Represented by Gray Talent Group.

Elizabeth Wigley (she/her) | Helena (u/s) is thrilled to be returning to First Floor Theater, where she most recently understudied Plano. Other Chicago credits include Zürich, Hookman (Steep Theatre), Language of Angels (Three Crows Theatre), Beyond Therapy (Eclipse Theatre), Route (Aegis Theatre), Sensitive Guys (The Boxcar at Steep), Bringing Iraq Home (Waltzing Mechanics), The Faculty Lounge (Oil Lamp), Boxes (NoMads Art Collective), and A Christmas Carol (Winnetka Theatre). She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University and the School at Steppenwolf, and is represented by Big Mouth Talent.

along with these fine humans who also made this show possible…

Caitlin Boho — Make Up Consultant
Rachel Flesher & Ian Maryfield — Violence & Intimacy Designers
Andres Fonseca — Musical Direction
Ethan Gaspard — Technical Director
Abbie Reed — Draftsperson
Catherine Miller — Casting Director
Ian McLaren Photography — Promotional & Portrait Photography
Anna Gelman — Archival Photography
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