First Floor Theater

First Floor Theater is a storefront theater founded in 2012 by eight University of Chicago alumni, with the goal of engaging our audience’s intellectual curiosity. Shortly after our inaugural season, FFT was named “Best New Theater Company” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of 2013 Reader’s Pick edition. After that initial creative impulse, we redefined and expanded our mission to include the principles above. We brought new members into the company and onto our staff, bringing fresh perspectives and innovation. As we continued to develop our identity, we moved to focus on intensely collaborative production processes that bring challenging, daring new works to Chicago stages. First Floor Theater is the Vanguard for What’s Next in Chicago Theater. First Floor Theater aims to pave a new path for American Theater, pointing the way towards a reimagined model centering equity, radical interrogation, and unapologetic live performance that challenges the status quo in each story told.