Chicago’s First Floor Theater today announced its 13th season with the Chicago Premiere of WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY, written by reid tang and directed by Tina El Gamal, running May 7 – June 6, 2026, for the first time at Raven Theatre (6157 N. Clark St.) in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Tickets will be available in January 2026 at www.firstfloortheatre.com.
First Floor Theater’s play development program, The Blueprint Commission, continues its mission to support writers bringing new, daring plays to shape the future of American theater. Now in its fifth year, the program announces First Floor Theater company member Brynne Frauenhoffer* as this season’s artist commission with her play EXORCISE, directed by Rebecca Willingham,* who won Best Director - Play at The Joseph Jefferson Awards for PRO-AM IN 2024. EXORCISE is about a woman named Morgan who receives a haunted Peloton-style exercise bike from her husband. Award-winning Chicago-based playwright Frauenhoffer’s credits also include PRO-AM (First Floor Theatre, 2024; winner of the 2024 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work; selected for The Kilroy List, 2020) and BURY ME (Dandelion Theatre, 2019). Previous recipients of The Blueprint Commission include Gloria Imseih Petrelli, Omer Abbas Salem, and Ariel Zetina; this project is made possible by a generous donation from Michael and Mona Heath.
“In Season Thirteen, First Floor Theater is moving up to Raven Theatre in Edgewater. There we will present the Chicago Premiere of reid tang’s WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY, a timely, hilarious, and biting piece that explores the way in which our lives are being shaped and controlled by big tech and its overlords,” said Andrew Cutler, Artistic Producer for First Floor Theater. “In addition to that production, we will complete work on company member Brynne Frauenhoffer’s Blueprint Commission, EXORCISE, a play that examines exercise culture and health, and the ways in which the former might be haunting us.”
First Floor Theater also welcomed new company members in its 13th Season, including Conchita Avitia, Spencer Donovan, Adanna Eziri, Kendyl Meyer, and Ashley Neal. The company, formed in 2012, has grown to include 31 members with crafts across acting, directing, designing, playwriting, filmmaking, and more. First Floor Theater’s Founding Managing Director, Amanda Fink, has stepped down from her role in day-to-day operations, but remains an active and proud company member.
ABOUT “WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY” - Chicago Premiere
May 7 – June 6, 2026 (Previews May 7, 9, 10, and 13, 2026)
Written by reid tang
Directed by Tina El Gamal
A catalog of all the possible phone calls that exist, WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY is a play that is not about Amazon, not about Jeff Bezos, and certainly not about Elon Musk. From five-time Obie winner Clubbed Thumb’s 2023 Summerworks festival comes reid tang’s genre-bending play that dials into the absurdity of capitalism and doesn’t hang up.
ABOUT FIRST FLOOR THEATER
Founded in 2012, First Floor Theater has garnered a reputation for pairing some of the most cutting-edge scripts in Chicago and the American Theater with a signature innovative design style. Shortly after their inaugural season, FFT was named “Best New Theater Company” by the Chicago Reader. FFT was also honored to be recognized with the 2018 Francesca Primus Prize from ATCA for their production of Leah Nanako-Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, and in Newcity’s Players 2019: “The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago.” Some of First Floor’s notable past productions include Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, Mike Pence Sex Dream, Two Mile Hollow, peerless, Plano, Pro-Am, and One Party Consent.