Friday, May 14, 2010

When Neo-Futurists Perform

As the weekend approaches, I'm wondering what the New York Neo-Futurists will be up to tonight and tomorrow--which of the playlets Jim, Christine, Mitch, and I saw on April 2nd will still be on their menu of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, in which they attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes.

I enjoyed every one of the 27 or so they managed, but here, in reverse numerical order, are the titles of those I remember vividly weeks later (etc. denotes an abbreviated title that is part of the performance):

25. Politics 101. American Values. a sampling

21. These Two Gay Men Are Gonna Pick a Hottie in the Audience. etc.

20. Book Report: The Ramayana by Valmiki

18. Meryl Streep Will Drink Your Blood Now

17. June 5, 2002 (apology to an umbrella skeleton)

14. "Kill my grandmother,please!"

13. ART CLASS

6. Congressional Symphony (Health Care Debate in Three Movements)

4. onion and absence

1. Bad Paddy


The one I was most hoping they'd get to but didn't:

19. Neo Geographic


In theory, the audience picks what's performed by calling out numbers, but I'm guessing the Neo-Futurists also consult their own druthers.

Every weekend they replace 3 or so playlets, so every few months they're performing a completely new show.

The New York Neo-Futurists perform Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind every Friday and Saturday at 10:30 pm at the Kraine Theater, 85 East 4 St. If you buy a ticket online, it costs $16; if you wait till you get there, you'll pay $10 plus the number you get rolling 1 die. Discounts are sometimes available online for TDF members.

For a history of the company (spun-off from the Chicago original), their aesthetics, class offerings, and samples of their work, go to:

www.nynf.org

2 comments:

joey said...

Hi - Neo-Futurist here. I wasn't performing at this show, but thanks for seeing us!

While sometimes it may seem as though we have some sense of the numbers we're pulling, I can assure you we remain blissfully ignorant. We rarely (if ever) know what play is on the back of any given number until it has been pulled, and we don't pull the numbers in any order than that which is given to us by the audience (though we do sometimes mistake some numbers for others in the race to get through as many plays as we can).

Kathryn Paulsen said...

Thanks, Joey. Look forward to seeing you again. Do you ever actually get through all 30?