Professional actors Ally Farzetta and Britt Michael Gordon starred in last year’s kickoff production of The Studios of Key West’s First Look series. This year’s season kicks off with The Starters January 30 & 31. Photo by Mark Hedden.

KEY WEST, FL — This season, The Studios of Key West proudly presents First Look, a season of four new plays that invites audiences into the creative process as it unfolds. Produced by Jeff Johnson, past Chair of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and past President of Waterfront Playhouse, the series brings playwrights, directors, and professional actors together for an intensive week of rehearsal, culminating in staged readings for a live audience that offer a rare view of contemporary theater in motion.

First Look occupies a distinctive space between a table read and a full production. The plays are deeply rehearsed and thoughtfully staged, allowing audiences to engage closely with the writing, the performances, and the choices being explored in the room. Each production brings together New York– and Los Angeles–based actors alongside accomplished Key West performers, guided by nationally recognized directors, reflecting a commitment to both new voices and the evolving craft of playwriting.

“First Look is about proximity—to the work, to the artists, and to the moment when a play is still revealing itself,” says producer Jeff Johnson. “The selection process is highly competitive, and we’re looking for plays with urgency and clarity—writing that asks big questions and holds up under sustained focus. A full week of rehearsal gives those plays the space they need to fully emerge.”

The 2026 season opens January 30–31 with The Starters by Laura Winters, a contemporary drama about a professional football player and his wife navigating ambition, risk, and the limits of the body. February’s The Patrons by Nick Gandiello is set in a small-town library in 1963, where budget cuts and a single controversial book force staff members to confront censorship and community pressure. In March, Mom’s Best Friend by Dan McCabe examines the sudden rupture of a close mother-daughter relationship and the emotional fallout that follows. The series concludes in April with My Maria by Andrew Russell, set in a fictional southern Midwest town, where a sixty-year-old school resource officer’s developing romance collides with public scrutiny after a mass shooting.

Together, the plays share a focus on people at moments of decision—when private lives intersect with public consequence, and certainty gives way to change. Intimate, urgent, and distinctly contemporary, First Look offers audiences a front-row seat to the future of American theater.

All performances take place at The Studios of Key West at 8:00 PM:
The Starters — January 30 & 31
The Patrons — February 13 & 14
Mom’s Best Friend — March 20 & 21
My Maria — April 3 & 4

For tickets and additional information, visit tskw.org.

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