Photos: First Floor Theater Presents FITZFEST

First Floor Theater (FFT) is thrilled to announce its fourth annual literary festival, FITZFEST, a festival of eight world premiere plays, by some of the country's most exciting playwrights, inspired by the life and work of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

FITZFEST will play August 5 - August 13, 2016 at Collaboraction's Pentagon Theatre in The Flat Iron Arts Building. Tickets will be available at http://firstfloortheater.com/. The press opening is Friday, August 5, 2016, at 8:00pm.

Over the past three years, the FFT LitFest has brought together some of Chicago's greatest writers, including Seth Bockley, Philip Dawkins, Bonnie Metzgar, Ike Holter, and Brett Neveu to respond to The Brothers Grimm, Mark Twain and Franz Kafka. This year, some of Chicago and New York's finest writers have found inspiration in Fitzgerald's smart social commentary, razor­sharp dialogue, vivid imagery, and unflinching exploration of the American psyche.

All eight plays in the festival will be performed every night. FITZFEST will feature new plays by: Ike Holter, Calamity West, Morgan McNaught, J. Julian Christopher, Ken Urban, Elise Spoerlein, and Company Members Sid Branca and Jesse Roth.

"It's an honor to be producing our festival for a fourth time this summer and solidifying our tradition of queer writers, female writers and writers of color interpreting the work of straight, white men for the 21st century," says Artistic Director Hutch Pimentel. "We are so excited to this year expand our Literary Festival beyond Chicago, welcoming back writers from New York whose full­length shows we premiered this season, alongside both new and returning Chicago writing talent."

Photo credit: Ariela Subar