Plano
By Will Arbery
Directed by Audrey Francis Steve First Floor Theater/Steppenwolf LookOut Steppenwolf, Chicago February – March 2020 Tonight, and later, and earlier, three sisters (no, not those ones) are stricken with a series of strange plagues. Isabel's got pains. Anne's got slugs. And Genevieve doesn't want to talk about hers. She just wants you to eat the damn hummus (she made it!) Fresh from its wildly successful Off-Broadway debut and remount that TimeOut NY called “experimental theater perfection,” Plano is “as funny as it is powerfully disturbing” (Vulture.) Steppenwolf Ensemble Member Audrey Francis returns to direct at First Floor Theater, where she previously co-directed FFT’s first production in 2012. "The cast is stellar across the board..." – Alex Huntsberger, TimeOut Chicago |
Hooded; or Being Black for Dummies
|
By Terreance Arvelle Chisholm
Directed by Mikael Burke Fielder/Dionysus First Floor Theater The Den, Chicago October – November 2018 Marquis and Tru are both fourteen year old black boys, but they exist in two totally different worlds. Marquis is a book smart prep-schooler living in the affluent suburb of Achievement Heights; while Tru is a street savvy kid from deep within the inner city of Baltimore. Their worlds overlap one day in a holding cell. Tru decides that Marquis has lost his “blackness” and pens a how-to manual entitled “Being Black for Dummies.” He assumes the role of professor, but Marquis proves to be a reluctant pupil. They butt heads, debate, wrestle, and ultimately prove that Nietzsche and 2pac were basically saying the same thing. As a part of the cast of Hooded, I received a Non-Equity Jeff Award Nomination for best Ensemble in 2019. The Production as a whole was also nominated. |