Pictured: Playwright Leah Nanako Winkler

First Floor Theater has announced their 2017/18 season, featuring one world premiere and two Chicago premieres. Their sixth season opens with the world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s TWO MILE HOLLOW, an explosive satire of the classic white American family drama, directed by Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel. Next winter brings the Chicago premiere of DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA by Nathan Alan Davis, a moving, lyrical story of a young black man searching for a connection to his ancestors, directed by Chika Ike. Closing out the season is the Chicago premiere of Cory Finley’s THE FEAST, a pitch black comedy about what lies beneath our art, our relationships and our feet, directed by Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel.

“These three plays demonstrate the potential of theater to entertain, enthrall and educate us. We’re incredibly proud to be introducing these three playwrights to Chicago whose voices are utterly unique in their field,” says Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel.

First Floor Theater is a resident company at The Den Theatre.

First Floor Theater’s 2017/18 Season (from the press release):

The World Premiere of
TWO MILE HOLLOW
By Leah Nanako Winkler
Directed by Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel
October 8 – November 4, 2017

When the Donnellys gather to divide their belongings after the sale of their oceanfront mansion, both an internal and literal storm brew. As this brood of famous, longing-to-be-famous, and mess, of a Caucasian family comes together with their POC personal assistant, Charlotte, some really really really 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. TWO MILE HOLLOW was named one of the Top 15 Plays on the 2017 Kilroys List.

The Chicago Premiere of
DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA
By Nathan Alan Davis
Directed by Chika Ike
March 4 – March 31, 2018

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 present-day hero’s quest exploring the lengths and depths we must go to redeem history’s wrongs.

The Chicago Premiere of
THE FEAST
By Cory Finley
Directed by Hutch Pimentel
May 13 – June 9, 2018

Matt and Anna’s relationship is going swimmingly, until the sewers under their apartment open up and begin to speak. The plumber is angry, Matt’s paintings are getting stranger, and a storm is gathering. THE FEAST is a comedy that draws on the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft to ask, what’s real, what’s not, and who knows.

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