Support Floor Thirteen's Second Season

Who are we?

We are two directors and a playwright who formed a theater collective dedicated to devising new and exciting work, without limitations: now we are a 15-member company, composed of performers who are interested in pushing the envelope of what's been done before in theater.

What is our process?

Each season, over the course of a 12-week process, we improvise, experiment and innovate pieces borne from the actors themselves. On our first session, we ask our actor team to bring in inspiration from non-theatrical sources (poetry, visual art, fiction, etc), and we use these as "seeds" to explore and generate new material. The next couple sessions, we invite our members to create and devise, under the guidance of our two directors. Then, our company playwright takes the reigns, inspired by all the exciting work generated, and creates original plays that will produced on for our season showcase. Following this, our plays are cast from our company, and our directors and actors work together to put together new works that are later produced at the end of our season.

What have we done?

On May 13, 2025, our inaugural showcase was produced at The Tank! Yay! "Floor Thirteen Theatrical Laboratory Presents: Sign of the (End) Times" was an amazing night of celebration, composed of four apocalyptic short plays that were themed around finding hope and survival in the darkest of times:

"Looking Up" started the night off: a satirical period piece in which the well-to-do of 1910 gather on a Manhattan rooftop to observe Halley's Comet approaching the earth, while (literally) looking down on the lower classes rioting in the streets below in fear of the world ending; however, some of those very "poor folk" infiltrated their party with the aim to expose their lack of empathy for the other side of humanity.

"Dying for Love" was next in the line-up, exploring the question of what love really means through the lens of love, art and mental health, featuring a lovesick screenwriter suffering with depression and self-worth who made the ultimate sacrifice for his art--and how his death affected the lives of those who loved him, and the film that was made in honor of his story.

"Bloodless" was the third play in the showcase, and it dealt with how one can survive abuse, showcasing three death-dying women--Abigail, a girl who rose from the grave after being killed by her abusive father, Boo, a lesbian ghost who took her life years ago due to abuse from her homophobic mother, and finally, Sherry, Abigail's mother, who sacrificed her humanity to bring her daughter back from the dead. Intersecting in shocking and moving ways, these women evolve around different experiences of abuse and show that healing and evolution can only come through self-love and sharing your suffering with those who understand you.

Finally, "No Light Lives Here" was the final play in the showcase, which told the story of two high school seniors who escaped their homes, running away to the heart of the forest, with plans to never go back. By taking on the identities of goddesses, these friends empowered themselves following what is revealed to be a devastating sexual assault by a schoolmate, further darkened by the lack of justice by the school and community. When the girls are joined by a conservative but sympathetic classmate, a liberal teacher, and the survivor's father, an unlikely community forms, leading them to create new rituals of hope even in the most helpless and dark of times.

After the showcase of our work, we followed our night of original work with an open mic cabaret, where audience members as well as our company members were invited to share ideas that inspired them, much like the seed gleaning process that started the whole season. From this community-building and growing exercises, we made new connections with amazing people who shared their passions in a way that will inspire our work in our next season, and the future beyond.

What now?

We are so proud of what we have done in one season, but we have so much more to do! We are still at the beginning of our journey, and we have far to go! That said, we are committed to creating a safe and fulfilling space where theater artists can create new, experimental work they are passionate about.

Our second season, beginning August 1 with a final showcase in October, we are taking things to the next level. We are not only hoping to pay our incredible company and staff a stipend for their amazing contributions, but we are also hoping to give them more of a chance to showcase their work, with two additional show-dates and higher production value for our productions. This means, a professional set, costumes, props, lighting and sound!

That's where YOU come in!