The Neo-Futurists

Double Salami: week 3

2012-01-27T02:30:00.002-06:00

I'm not going to lie to you. That there is a Double Salami.

Just let me know if this gets too serious.

(It's too serious.)

Double Salami.

World Premiere Preview January 27, 28, 29 2012

2012-01-25T01:16:00.009-06:00

Here's something, a little look into the process (who here likes process? get used to it, because you're going to see a lot of it in the next year):

In Too Much Light, we've developed types of plays that we like to put in the menu. Types of plays that support the form, fuck with the form, negotiate around the form, etc. Without getting into the details, they have neat names; see if you can see what any of these might imply-- Anti-Plays, Shorties, Clock-Stoppers, Dejas, Line Plays, Longies, Prop-Heavies, Coaster Plays, 30%ers, Bubblegums, Dreads (i just made up a few there.)

Another kind you'll see are plays that are many plays. Plays that take up more than one slot on that acclaimed clothesline. Jay did one about a pair of "Literal Music Videos." One time I saw John do one with a small box, and a giant box. This type of play is pretty rare (it's hard to write them successfully) but when they show up they create this kind of neat thematic-feel to the show, which is different from the inherently random, collage-y, chance-y feel that TML has.

MY POINT: a crazy thing happened this week where Caitlin, Jay, AND Megan all brought in this type of play. Remember: we work and write alone, predominantly. So this was just a weird coincidence where three ensemble members felt the drive to write in this Multi-Slot form. And damn, they were ALL GOOD.

Megan's three (which you'll see below) went in as is, while Cailtin's we found a way to make them one play. Jay has half of his series in, but it is likely that the other one will show up soon.

Wavelengths. We've got them, with each other.

Brenda, Tif, Leah, Megan, Caitlin, Kurt, Jay, and Trevor are in the show. They put in 11 plays.

Melodrama II - (Jay Torrence)

The Saddest Story Ever - (Leah Urzendowski)

Double Salami: Part 2: Addendum: Importance - (Kurt Chiang)

Being on Camera - (Kurt Chiang)

he loves me, he loves me not - (Megan Mercier)

Vacationing In Iowa - (Leah Urzendowski)

Too Soon - (Tif Harrison)

BLOCKED. - (Tif Harrison)

In the Chinese-American restaurant in Montana where the only Asian people were eating hamburgers: - (Caitlin Stainken)

ps. - in case you haven't been paying attention, we've put in 47(!!!!!) brand new plays in this freakin show in 4 weeks. That's why I'm writing this at 2:30 in the morning. So, yeah, chew on that. What do you have to do to get on the cover of NewCity? Kidding. I'm sure everyone there is lovely.

2:30. I don't know what I am saying.

World Premiere Preview January 20, 21, 22 2012: Santorum

2012-01-18T01:18:00.008-06:00

So the content here is bluer (sexier, graphic-y-er) than usual for the World Premiere Preview, but it just fits so well with what we have coming up in the menu this week.

A little internet link sharing for you: Dan Savage is a favorite writer among many of the neos, and one of his finest contributions to the English language (he didn't invent the term personally, but he helped perpetuate it) happens to touch on a couple of plays we're going to premiere this Friday. The word is "santorum."

That's what we like to call timely. Remember: "living newspaper" is in our mission statement.

We (Leah, Kurt, Caitlin, Jay, Tif, Trevor, Brenda, Megan) rolled a nine, we cut nine, we wrote a TON and we chose these 9 plays for you, and for ourselves.

An Incidental Conversation Between Brenda and Megan - (Brenda Arellano)

First Person GOP Shooter - (Kurt Chiang)

naked truths from the Whole Foods salad bar - (Megan Mercier)

Neo-oonies - (Leah Urzendowski)

Well That's The Pope Calling The Kettle Black - (Jay Torrence)

defeat the cold. warm the globe - (Trevor Dawkins)

Oh No - (Caitlin Stainken)

Lay It On the Old Girl - (Caitlin Stainken)

In the time it takes to gut a pomegranate - (Tif Harrison)

Seriously, leave the kids at home this week. Don't even get a babysitter. They're better off, trust us.

Oh, and don't forget. . . Double Salami.

Double Salami: Week 2

2012-01-18T01:06:00.001-06:00

Double Salami.

February 14th, 2012. That's Valentine's Day. So you'll REMEMBER.

World Premiere Preview January 13, 14, 15 2012

2012-01-13T12:34:00.005-06:00

Ok, everyone. Be really careful when you are driving in parking lots. When there is a lot of snow, this is what the city snow plows do: they push all the snow into big crazy mountains, usually near the lighting fixtures. Now, that can be convenient (we can't expect them to load up all the snow in a dump truck and take the snow away like they would do to mountains of trash), but it can also be dangerous. If you are driving a little too fast, or someone else is driving a little too fast, then you're going to be turning around one of them snow mountains and you are going to accidentally crash into a car. Because your sightlines are blocked. It's important to have all your sightlines. Ok, get out there. Remember to let the car run about 5 minutes before peeling away. It's cold out there.

This week, we rolled a ten and we put in ten brand new plays. It's been proven that every single one of them is incredible. Jay, Kurt, Trevor, Tif, Megan, Caitlin, and Brenda return after putting 17 in last week. So there we are.

Sustenance - (Brenda Arellano)

Life Lessons - (Brenda Arellano)

Brain Play #3: These Three People (Hypotheticals & Assumptions) - (Kurt Chiang)

Interrupting Cow Kanye West - (Megan Mercier)

Kurtain - (Trevor Dawkins)

Recorded, in front of a live audience. - (Caitlin Stainken)

A Fan's (Untimely) Reaction to Kimya Dawson's (Not-So-Recent) Success - (Tif Harrison)

All of that. For This. - (Jay Torrence)

From this play forward: EMPATHY! (It's a two way street. A large, double wide, two lane street. Maybe more like a boulevard) - (Jay Torrence)

Can I get a ROLL TIDE?! - (Megan Mercier)

p.s. - it should be noted that Trevor (new, green, ripe as a fawn's ear Trevor) has successfully written a play using the ironic relationship between my name (Kurt) and a major device used in TML. Various ensemble members (including myself) have tried and failed at this task in the three years I've been doing this show, so this is momentous. You (the audience) should see it (the play). Good job Trevor.

Double Salami Post Week 1

2012-01-10T23:17:00.003-06:00

Double Salami.

Remember: BEST by February 14th, 2012.

More soon. . . . . . .

Double Salami Post Week

2012-01-10T23:17:00.000-06:00

World Premiere Preview January 6-8, 2012

2012-01-04T23:32:00.003-06:00

Congratulations, it's the new year of 2012, and we're not going to lie to you, this weekend is the first three shows of brand new Too Much Light plays written by neofuturists for an audience rapt with attention and willingness to discover.

I wrote that sentence that way (poor, run on, vague) because we were up til 2 o clock in the morning pitching and rehearsing plays. The seven of the neofuturists that are in this show this week brought 35 (what?) 35 plays to be considered for inclusion this weekend. The die that we rolled in November dictacted that we cut at least nine. We decided to cut 17.

This is just something that happens when it's 2012.

So please, come watch (ladies first) Tif, Brenda, Megan, Caitlin, and then Kurt, Jay, and Trevor attempt to remember 17 world premieres by heart. Come, celebrate, be part of the process.

- PTSDIY (tif harrison)

- Laundry Daze (tif harrison)

- The Blue Blues (jay torrence)

- Communication for Starters (jay torrence)

- Butt Puppets: as performed by the school of laquoque (jay torrence)

- some of us are trying to quit (jay torrence)*

- Silly Concept Play (kurt chiang)

- Some Things Last Forever. . . Such As Encased Meats (kurt chiang)

- First Birthday (caitlin stainken)

- We Are the 2% (caitlin stainken)

- Nocturnal Emissions (brenda arellano)

- beat-beat. knock-knock (megan mercier)

- Life on Venus and Mars (megan mercier)

- Chessticles (trevor dawkins)

- An Abstraction (trevor dawkins)

- All My Faults (trevor dawkins)

- Hey, do that nose thing (trevor dawkins)

* this is a play that Jay wrote and we performed a while ago, but it wasn't in the show long enough. everyone is lucky to have it back.

Self As Metaphor - Updated!!

2011-12-13T13:22:00.007-06:00

New Years Eve is a time for celebration, self reflection, and change. You will make resolutions, and you will mean them. Then, by the time your resolutions lie broken and forgotten on the ground, you will have the chance to do some real self exploration in our next Neo workshop:

Self As Metaphor

Turn your life stories into physical performance

Taught by John Pierson and Kurt Chiang

Now beginning January 11th - Feb 29th (Wednesdays)

7pm-10pm

In this eight-week workshop, with the help of Neo-Futurists John Pierson and Kurt Chiang, you will study and perform physical work, both individually and in groups. You will learn how this work relates to The Neo-Futurist aesthetic using light, sounds, silences, simple objects and a little bit of absurdity and chaos.

In this class we will analyze the affect of light, music and soundscapes on physical performance. The workshop will also include a basic core workout and fundamental mime technique.

Access to simple sound editing software, though not required, would be a cool way for you to explore outside of class in order to create your own soundscapes for the work you will do in the class. (We can point you toward a number of good software options available free online. Analog sound manipulation - cassette tapes etc. - can also be used to great affect.)

To learn more about Neo-Futurist workshops, or to sign up for Self As Metaphor, you can visit our website or contact jmondres@neofuturists.org.

Anniversary, Week Two!

2011-12-09T14:12:00.001-06:00

The holidays have a tendency to assault you with excess -- sensory overload in the form of cheerful music and brightly colored lights and decorations; office break rooms filled with gift baskets and the gift baskets filled with caramels.

Well, we're not against giving a little extra, either. So although this weekend's Too Much Light will still feature but 30 plays in a mere 60 minutes, there will be a super-sized ensemble of 13 Neo-Futurists performing them, running around amid a low-hanging arch and various other hazards.

Lisa, Bilal, Tif, Brenda, Jay, Mary, Jessica, Kurt, Trevor, Kristie, Leah, Megan, and Caitlin bring you this action-packed anniversary menu:

A Song for the New Guy (Kristie Koehler Vuocolo)
The experience at Andersonville Shoe Repair went a little something like this. (Kristie Koehler Vuocolo)
30 Second Porn Title Beauty Pageant (Jay Torrence)
Now in 3D (Jay Torrence)
Some of us would like to quit (Jay Torrence)
Sex Is Gay (Caitlin Stainken)
Thoughts on the supposed next chapter (Caitlin Stainken)
Sad Standup (Trevor Dawkins)
I'm too excited to sleep (Trevor Dawkins)
Freaks (Jessica Anne)
Awry at Applebee's Featuring Kurt Chiang as the Toddler (Lisa Buscani)
Me Will play the Black Swan, and Me Will win all the Golden Globes and Oscars, and Me Will be directed by that guy with the moustache (me will also be pregnant) (Kurt Chiang)
Our Relative Experiences of Cemeteries (Kurt Chiang)
Grown-Ass Women in Tiaras: Where would we be without TLC? (Leah Urzendowski)
Mrs. Urzendowski Goes to Washington (Leah Urzendowski)
Once upon a Burlington Coat Factory Dressing Room, 7th Grade, circa 1994 (Leah Urzendowski)
FAT MICKEY (Megan Mercier)
"The deadliest tornado to sweep across the country in the last 56 years." (Megan Mercier)
Mother Fuckin' Goose
In honor of my birthday, your birthday, and this fuckin' country. (Tif Harrison)
You treat it like a circus, I'll treat you like a clown. (Tif Harrison)
Bruises, Blemishes (Bilal Dardai)
"Heavy-Handed" (Bilal Dardai)
Late Evening Dry Land Dolphin-Based Book Club (Bilal Dardai)
Fiction (Brenda Arellano)
Sandwich, Dance, Banana (Brenda Arellano)
Say "Bal-a-NEEZ" (Mary Fons)
Bread Bag Arms (Mary Fons)
The Take (Mary Fons)

We'll be gone for two weeks after this weekend, but back for New Year's Eve weekend, including our special December 31st performance. In the meantime, please come back to see our acclaimed, runaway hit Burning Bluebeard, which has had to add three more shows due to high demand. Buy your tickets soon, or you'll miss the show that Chicago Stage Review called "a rare and resplendent masterpiece."

Twenty-Three! (December 2-4, 2011)

2011-12-02T15:07:00.001-06:00

Today -- December 2nd, 2011 -- is the 23rd birthday of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (and thereby the de facto birthday of The Neo-Futurists Theater Company as well). In dog years, we're 161 years old!

As is tradition, every December we bring you two solid weeks of Anniversary "Best Of The Year" shows, featuring a massive cast of Neo-Futurists performing their favorite short works from the previous 48 weekends.

The cast this week includes: Mary, Tif, Greg, Jay, Bilal, Brenda, Trevor, Chloe, Megan, Kurt, Jessica, and Lisa, with these 30 plays...

Good Jobs (Megan Mercier)
FAT MICKEY (Megan Mercier)
"The deadliest tornado to sweep across this country in the last 56 years." (Megan Mercier)
You treat it like a circus, I'll treat you like a clown. (Tif Harrison)
I still dream about it, and so does my Dad. (Tif Harrison)
GRECO-RAMEN (Bilal Dardai)
Tiger - Snake - Monkey - Crane - Mantis - Yvonne (Bilal Dardai)
In the lonely grove of those left hanging... (Bilal Dardai)
Fiction (Brenda Arellano)
Sandwich, Dance, Banana (Brenda Arellano)
Neo-Futurist Existential Crisis Cheer Squad (Mary Fons)
Period Drama (Mary Fons)
, or: It just doesn't feel as good as I thought it would (Mary Fons)
Flights of Fancy (Greg Allen)
His Room Is Quiet Now (Greg Allen)
Over Your Head (Greg Allen)
Now in 3-D (Jay Torrence)
30-Second Porn Title Beauty Pageant (Jay Torrence)
Zen and the Art of Brain Care (Dr. Chloe Johnston)
Unspills (Dr. Chloe Johnston)
Our Relative Experiences of Cemeteries (Kurt Chiang)
If I had a nickel for every umbrella you've lost (Kurt Chiang)
Awry at Applebees, Starring Kurt Chiang as the Toddler (Lisa Buscani)
Multi-Strategy Utilitarianism (Lisa Buscani)
Excuse Me Your Pride is Showing (Jessica Anne)
Farm Fresh and Asking for More (Jessica Anne)
Sad Standup (Trevor Dawkins)
It Looks Good on Paper but Paper Can Tear (Trevor Dawkins)

And one mystery play that's currently a mystery to us as much as it is to you.

Other reminders! If you haven't seen Burning Bluebeard yet, you are missing out on one of the most highly recommended shows of the holiday season.

★★★½ - Chicago Tribune

★★★★ - Time Out Chicago

★★★★ - Chicago Theater Beat

"…the hottest show in town" - Chicago Stage Style

And tickets are now on sale for our high-flying New Year's Eve show! If the Mayans were right, this could be the last one we ever do, so you probably shouldn't miss out on buying your tickets.

World Premiere Preview (November 18-20, 2011)

2011-11-18T09:50:00.001-06:00

You have no idea how exciting a weekend it is at the Neo-Futurarium, which is why this blog is climbing its way out of the mothballs to tell you.

FIRST OF ALL, we're proud and excited to present the world premiere of Burning Bluebeard, the new prime-time show created by Jay Torrence (Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck!), directed by Halena Kays (Fake Lake), featuring Anthony Courser, Dean Evans, Molly Plunk, Jay Torrence, Leah Urzendowski, and Ryan Walters. A combination of free-spirited clown show, holiday spectacular, and deeply tragic tale of unspeakable carnage, Bluebeard explores the true story of the 1903 fire that ravaged Chicago's Iroquois Theatre...the deadliest theater fire in American history. The show will both split your sides with laughter and leave you wracked with fits of uncontrollable sobbing. This is a fact. It will do this. You absolutely do not want to miss this show.

SECONDLY, we're introducing the world to the last of our newest crop of Neo-Futurists, Trevor Dawkins, who joins us in Too Much Light for the first of what we know will be many, many weeks of amazing artwork. Trevor has appeared with the Neos before as the Yes Man in Crisis: A Musical Game Show, as Intern Trevor in Daredevils Hamlet, and as several different roles in Chalk and Saltwater: The Ladder Project. Trevor will also be joining the cast of the home show for a command performance at the Midwest FurFest, the largest gathering of anthropomorphic animal fans in the region.

FINALLY, as ever, there are new plays in Too Much Light to be performed. Trevor joins a cast that also includes Mary, Phil, Tif, Brenda, and Bilal to bring you these five world premieres:

20/20 Vision (Phil Ridarelli)
I'm too excited to sleep. (Trevor Dawkins)
Two-Point-Oh (Bilal Dardai)
We share everything around here (Hazing Play 4 Trevor) (Mary Fons)
Holiday Gift Guide (Mary Fons)

It's almost December, and although we believe in finishing strong, we prefer to start strong and just maintain it for a supernatural amount of time. Come see the new work we have cooked up for you!

Photos by Evan Hanover

You've Written Pieces And They Are Good...

2011-10-14T17:12:00.013-05:00

...But they could be even better with an outside eye. So join us this month for our

In-Depth Performance Critique & Workshop
Wednesday, October 26th at 7:00 pm

Taught by Mary Fons and Bilal Dardai

Cost: Just $55 (due in full to reserve your space)

In this performance workshop, your solo or group pieces will get up on their feet and get worked out; it's like a gym for your art. We'll work as a class to question, refine, uncover, and plump up or whittle down your short pieces for maximum effect.

Mary and Bilal act as lead directors, but input from all is encouraged/taken seriously. Make your art crisper, cleaner, hotter. Open to all ages and experience levels, but note that this is not a generative workshop: You'll need to bring in stuff to work on. (Class size limited to 14.)

Email neoclasses@gmail.com for more information, or register on-line here.

(Neo-Futurist Intensives are tightly focused uniquely crafted one day workshops offered at The Neo-Futurarium. They are a great way for new students to get a taste of what a Neo workshop is like before diving into an 8 week course; a chance for returning students to focus intensely on specific elements of the Neo-Futurist aesthetic in between sessions of our full length workshop. All of our intensives are just $55.)

2011-10-09T18:45:00.002-05:00

Chalk & Saltwater: The Ladder project FREE Potluck Thursday this week is sponsored by The Chicago Reader and Blue Moon BEER. Don't miss your opportunity to drink beer for free and see our show! Just bring some hotdogs, brats, or sausages, or Pizza (cooked) or some buns and drink and watch historical, chaotic theater with us. For more info, tickets, and a shitload of informations visit: The Ladder Wicki

World Premiere Preview Oct 7 - Oct 9: Technology Edition

2011-10-07T13:43:00.004-05:00

I'd be lying to you if I told you that I didn't just work on a longer post that was eaten by the Internet or whoever is in charge now just before I sent this one.

Plays this week are brought to you by Brenda, Jessica, Kurt, Bilal, Greg, and Ryan Walters. We rolled a five but cut seven of them.

Luke and Ryan Switch Places For the Next Three Plays In An Effort to Demonstrate How Quickly Life Changes - Jessica Anne

Ode to Joe - Kurt Chiang

If I had a nickel for every umbrella you've lost... - Kurt Chiang

Baby Likes Bebop - Bilal Dardai

Flights of Fancy - Greg Allen

Revolution - Greg Allen

I'm Charging My Phone - Ryan Walters

World Premiere Preview Sept 30-Oct 2

2011-09-30T10:46:00.003-05:00

I got this thing that I do now, it is a joke I make, it is not really a joke but just a way of saying something, but I try to make it funny. It goes like this...

Say you were living with me, and we were sitting on the couch, and we were watching, I don't know, TV, and I get up to go get a snack. And then that's when I say that thing that I have been saying lately, I say this: "I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't getting a snack right now."

Another example: say you're living with me, and I get up to go paint a house, and before I leave our apartment, I say to you, I say: "I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't going to go paint a house right now."

This is a way of communicating in which you and the people around you can always be sure that you are telling the truth. And that, my friends, is neofuturism. Speaking of which, stop saying you live with me, because you don't.

The plays this week are brought to you by Brenda, Kurt, Leah, Jessica, Ryan Walters, Bilal, and Ryan Good from New York. This is Ryan Good's last week in his visit to Chicago, so come check him out, and he'll probably like sniff your hair or something. Seriously, if you don't want your hair sniffed, don't talk to this guy.

As summer slowly dies outside the cells of Jackson Georgia - Bilal Dardai
Few Minutes Late - Jessica Anne
MTV Generation Redux: Smells like Layering Experiment - Ryan Good
Progression Brackets - Kurt Chiang
William Tell Me About the Biscuits and Gravy - Leah Urzendowski

We will school you.

2011-09-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

It's not too late to take this awesome class and feel like you're learning things!

Come let Greg Allen (founder of the Neo-Futurists) and John Pierson (longtime Neo-Futurist, rock star) school you in collaborative performance in the Neo-Futurist Collaborative Performance Workshop. This is a great opportunity for new and returning students to learn collaborative Neo-Futurist techniques to write, direct, and perform their own original work.

Saturdays, 11am to 2pm

October 8 – November 26

Taught by Founding Director Greg Allen and John Pierson

Cost: $250 ($125 due at sign-up, balance due at first class, October 8th)

class size limited to 16

Using the Neo-Futurist aesthetic of being yourself on stage with an interactive audience, participants will focus on creating ensemble performances in pairs or small groups. We will explore such models as adaptation of known text, movement to music, The Interview (both as research and performance), The Silent Partner, choral staging, The Line Play, and audience participation.

Over the years we have found many Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop participants have gone on to create work together and this is a class designed to advance that preparation. First-time students and returning students are welcome! (Class size limited to 16.)

Contact NEOFUT@gmail.com with questions or to sign up.

or register online here.

Quilty!

2011-09-20T11:26:00.000-05:00

For all the work we do around our home space, we also like to take the opportunity now and again to spotlight the work our ensemble is doing either at other theaters or on their own. Towards that end, ensemble member Mary Fons has a thing she would like to say to you:

Hi there, it's Mary Fons.

You may know me from such plays as Dem Pank Tape B*tches, Prop! Danger Prop, or Symphony No. 9 with Keyboard and Mucus. Perhaps you saw my Neo Prime-Time show, Performing Tonight: Liza Minnelli's Daughter. Perhaps you have seen me in hundreds of wonderful plays written by my talented fellow Neo-Futurist ensemble members. Perhaps you have no idea who I am. That's fine. I may have no idea who you are, either. But I do care about your well-being unless you're one of the two people on the planet who has gravely wronged me. Chances are wildly in your favor that you are not one of those two people so it's safe to say that I am ready to like you. Let us continue.

I'm not just a Neo-Futurist. I'm also a quilter. Did you know the quilting industry is a 4 billion dollar industry? This means that a lot of people make quilts. Sometimes the amount of money in an industry is a good indicator of the number of people who like whatever that industry produces or facilitates. Look at entertainment! ($2 trillion.)

Hey, speaking of entertainment, did you know that I teach quilting on TV? It's true. I am co-host of a quilting how-to program on Public Television. I co-host that show with my mother, who is a famous quilter who also makes excellent lasagna. Our show, Love of Quilting is on in 91% of all U.S. households -- that's almost as many as Sesame Street, another popular Public Television program you may have heard of/seen. Anyway, check your local listings and you can see that show on the actual television. Love of Quilting is also on the Create Network, so that's an option. Got a DVR? I will be its food.

In addition to that quilting show, I do a different quilting show of my very own on the Internet. It's called Quilty and it's for beginner quilters. Why not watch an episode now? The one below features Chloe J., a Neo-Futurist and friend who is very pretty and, in this episode, a newer quilter -- maybe just like you.

Would you like to know how to make a quilt? Perhaps you have a baby on the way? A friend getting married? Maybe you just want to make something with your hands that won't get deleted or be eaten. I recommend a quilt. Watch me on television or on the Internet and we can do it together, sort of.

Love,
Mary

World Premiere Preview (September 16-18, 2011)

2011-09-16T12:09:00.001-05:00

Fall arrived pretty quickly this time, didn't it?

This image is a painting by American artist Stephanie Frostad, titled The Sudden Autumn. The woman in the painting seems to have been taken by surprise by something otherwise unseen, but the way the wheat stalks have collapsed on each other suggests that the onset of fall has, in essence, jumped her.

Had this painting continued, one wonders if she would have dropped her rake and run, or perhaps brandished the rake like a weapon and attempted to stave off autumn for just a little while longer.

Or maybe I'm the only one who wonders that.

The cast of Too Much Light this weekend -- Tif, Ryan Walters, Phil, Leah, Ryan Good, and Brenda -- have nine brand-new plays to surprise you with this weekend:

Ultra Ultra ULTRA MEXICANA!!! (Brenda Arellano)
I hate to say it, but maybe Rick Perry was onto something... (Tif Harrison)
Someday We Will Buy a House. Today is that day. (Ryan Walters)
Dad is a Palindrome (Phil Ridarelli)
They're All Bad Hair Days (Phil Ridarelli)
Perhaps I've Said Too Much//// (creation of an inside joke to which you are now privy) (Ryan Good)
but what about the casually sexy gnome, mutilated robot bear, and me? (Ryan Good)
And Just Like That, She Found Peace (Leah Urzendowski)
Grown-Ass Women and Tiaras: Where Would We Be Without TLC? (Leah Urzendowski)

Bundle up! As with most buildings in Chicago, everybody's trying to figure out if it's the right time to start turning on the heat.

2011-09-12T15:45:00.002-05:00

Hey This Thursday September 15th is the first FREE Potluck Theater at Chalk & Saltwater: The Ladder Project.

visit our wicki

Find out more about tickets for Chalk & Saltwater

This Thursday bring whatever food you like, but at the space will be Cheese, Crackers, and Wine!

And our very own Phil Ridarelli will be making Martinis!

Like food? So do we. Especially on Thursdays.
Chalk and Saltwater: The Ladder Project invites you to POTLUCK THURSDAYS— Admission is FREE when you bring anything from a three-course meal down to your own fork and knife, and you can even enter your dish in the cast-judged taste test—the winner will receive 2 free tickets toToo Much Light and your choice of merchandise. Bring a lot or a little, choose to compete or not—we encourage you to simply come as you are, chow down, and enjoy the show!

Doors open at 7:30pm
If you have questions, or would like to be more involved in Potluck Thursdays, drop us a line atladderpotluck@gmail.com.

In the original production of The Ladder, Edgar Davis ran a free admission special which began at Thanksgiving 1927 and continued for six months. Also, in true form of his eccentricity, Davis held a free picnic for the people of Luling, Texas, and its neighboring counties after making $15 million on a Luling well that no other oilman would touch. Total losses: $15,000/week for lost admission and $2 million on the picnic. In memory of these two absurd ideas, the ensemble of The Ladder Project is featuring FREE pot luck Thursdays.

During any of the Thursday Potlucks you can bring whatever you desire. Some of the Thursdays will have themes that you are more than welcome to comply with, but little to large rebellions are always encouraged.

World Premiere Preview (September 9-11, 2011)

2011-09-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

This weekend, we restore some gender balance to the Force, as Phil Ridarelli and New York Neo Ryan Good (pictured at right, possibly awaiting a Frisbee) join the existing cast of Tif, Bilal, Brenda, and Leah to perform that show about all the plays being performed in a seemingly short amount of time.

Ryan comes to us from Brooklyn (although he's originally from Wisconsin, and we do not hold his unabashed Packer-backing against him). Here are three fun facts about Brooklyn.

1) Brooklyn's official motto is Eendraght Maeckt Maght, Dutch for "Unity makes strength." Ironically, Brooklyn was initially very, very hesitant to become one of New York City's five boroughs.

2) Brooklyn's minor league baseball, soccer, and hockey teams are named the Cyclones, Knights, and Aces, respectively.

3) Last year, "Brooklyn" was the 34th most-popular name given to newborn American girls.

Here are eight titles of the brand-new plays premiering on our stage this weekend.

Advice From the Streets of Bridgeport (Brenda Arellano)
Chicken (Phil Ridarelli)
Ren Fair Ninja (Leah Urzendowski)
A Division of Labor (Bilal Dardai)
Down the line, we'll all be old. (Tif Harrison)
Dirty Laundry Aired Fondly (Ryan Good)
Not I..Oh wait...Yeah, I (History/Now) (Ryan Good)
Scottish Blood!!! (for paul) (Ryan Good)

Fun fact about Ryan: Ryan may be the tallest Neo-Futurist in the history of Neo-Futurism. Seriously, that guy is really freakin' tall.

World Premiere Preview (September 2-4, 2011)

2011-09-02T13:34:00.002-05:00

The cast of five last week rolled a magnificent 11 by the end of Sunday, and then responded to that by writing 11 new plays and adding a new cast member.

Say what?

Yes, this weekend is the first of what we hope to be many for Neo-Neo Brenda Arellano, seen here in some kind of strange zombie form that we're sure we can get cured before she shows up to perform this evening.

Megan, Tif, Bilal, and Leah join Brenda to present these new plays alongside 19 older ones:

The Fall Food Issue (Tif Harrison)
And Now, God's Silence (Brenda Arellano)
Oops (Brenda Arellano)
Tiger - Snake - Monkey - Crane - Mantis - Yvonne (Bilal Dardai)
12. Angry Men? (Bilal Dardai)
Who are the hobos in your neighborhood? (Leah Urzendowski)
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed: Adventures in Cocaine (Leah Urzendowski)
Welcome Wagon...And Megan (Leah Urzendowski)
Good Jobs (Megan Mercier)
just maintain eye contact (Megan Mercier)
anti-climactic telegraph (Megan Mercier)

Come see Brenda while she's still shiny and new! We expect to have utterly ruined her within the next month or so.

World Premiere Preview (August 26-28, 2011)

2011-08-26T16:23:00.004-05:00

As Kurt mentioned a couple weeks back, we're going to start making efforts to revive this weekly "World Premiere" post...which halted, unceremoniously, months ago, for a number of reasons that aren't really worth mentioning.

This week the cast is not just predominantly female, but almost entirely so, with only one man in the group...a rare occasion for either gender complement in our show. Leah, Megan, Caitlin, Tif, and Bilal bring you eight world premieres:

You treat it like a circus, I'll treat you like a clown (Tif Harrison)
depression/suppression (Megan Mercier)
Shhhhhh, Don't Tell Bilal, But He Is The Only Boy In The Cast Right Now (Leah Urzendowski)
On a dark and stormy Jerkface (Leah Urzendowski)
Nihilism 101 (Caitlin Stainken)
Trickle down theory (Caitlin Stainken)
Primary Coloring (Bilal Dardai)
Emotigenesis, or, A Working Theory on The Origin of Life and Human Relationships That Fits Inside a Single Text Message (Bilal Dardai)

Thanks to those of you who asked where this post went.

Director's Commentary: PURPLE RAIN (1984)

2011-08-17T12:27:00.005-05:00

And here we are at last...the final performance of this year's It Came From The Neo-Futurarium! And what a performance we expect it to be: Purple Rain, the film debut and vanity vehicle of The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly and Presently Known as Prince. (Note: This performance is so utterly sold out we're not even sure where the performers are going to be sitting. You can try to show up on Thursday at 7:30 pm to get on the waitlist, but you're going to have be really, really lucky to catch this one.)

Barrel of Monkeys and Strawdog Theatre artist Mike Przygoda discusses what led him to pitch this project to the Film Fest:

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

MP: I've always been a huge Prince fan and particularly of the Purple Rain album. I grew up listening to it and learning the songs off of it, but I didn't ever sit down and watch the film until a few years ago. My first reaction was of complete disappointment. The soundtrack is so incredible and the film is full of poorly written dialogue, one dimensional characters, and some of the poorest acting I've seen on screen. Upon further viewings, I discovered a kitsch element about it and started to really appreciate the early MTV-esque shots and emphasis on style that the film conveyed.

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

MP: The music. I've played several of these songs in various bands over the years but I've always wanted to perform the entire album, and to do in context seemed too good to be true.

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

MP: "That ain't Lake Minnetonka." -The Kid

Tonight, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

2011-08-12T14:51:00.000-05:00

World Premiere Preview August 12, 13, 14 2011

2011-08-11T12:10:00.003-05:00

If I were in Congress, I wonder what kind of tie I would wear? I wonder how you pick your tie if you are in Congress? You probably have a wardrobe assistant, at some level of your career. You probably don’t have to be that high a level of Congress person, either. You probably have an entry level wardrobe assistant, and then eventually, your wardrobe assistant becomes better and better, and then they become a Wardrobe Specialist (now Capitalized), like how you eventually become a Congress Government Specialist. Because you are so good at governing.

All this to say, stop watching CNN, and come see these plays and many others performed by Neofuturists Leah, Tif, Megan, Ryan, Dean, Kurt, Mary, and Jessica. We rolled 4 but decided to cut 5, because we wrote a lot.

-------------

Mrs. Urzendowski Goes To Washington (Leah Urzendowski)

Insomnia; staged. (Tif Harrison)

FAT MICKEY (Megan Mercier)

Conversation from a Funeral (Ryan Walters)

The Play Police (Dean Evans)

----------------

Also, about this week, notice the name “Dean Evans,” who hasn’t the TML show for a bit, so come support that guy. He’s multi-faceted. I don’t know what that word means.

And sorry about falling off the update wagon for a while. You know, Internet.

Director's Commentary: RED DAWN (1984)

2011-08-10T11:16:00.002-05:00

1984's jingoistic coming-of-age action thriller Red Dawn may seem like a relic of the past, but consider that today's high schoolers have no idea how to wage a guerrilla war against invading enemy forces. Lucky for us that there's a remake coming out soon, which will hopefully re-invigorate the spirit of the Wolverines. Until that release, however, It Came From The Neo-Futurarium proudly presents its remount of the original interpretation of the screenplay this Thursday. Director Phil Ridarelli answered our usual set of questions:

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

PR: This wasn't one of those films that I really connected with when it was originally released (in 1984). But many friends and acquaintances consider Red Dawn a touchstone of that period while admitting that it's not very good. When I first saw it I was struck with how f**king predictable it is, how corny the dialogue is and how memorably bad the performances are. It's really a powerhouse cast for the time, but they're all just horrible! Also, the politics are very simple and play to the simplest element of Patriotism.

These days my reaction is much different. My two sons are older now and when Jed starts looking at the photos of he and his brother as little kids playing baseball and when he takes Matt to the playpark to die... I get a little choked up. But don't tell anybody.

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

PR: I think we made a mistake the first time around in over-adapting the battle sequences. They're much leaner and quicker now with more fun and creative elements involved. Although if I were being completely honest, I'd have to say I've been looking forward to purchasing a segment of chain link fence from Home Depot for weeks now. The Drive-in sequence is classic in my book.

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

PR: Jed's "Let it turn" monologue is pretty terrible stuff, but seeing Bob Stockfish get all Shakesperean behind that fence, screaming "Avenge me!!" never fails to satisfy.

NF: RED DAWN is a remount. Without giving away any surprises, can you talk about anything you have revised or re-imagined from the last performance?

PR: I'm hoping this reading feels like sitting around with a bunch of friends after a few drinks and tossing in a VHS tape of Red Dawn. There's a lot more ridiculous dialogue and commentary added. John Syzmanski has made us a pre-show disc of hits from 1984. And I have a few shopping bags full of Pop'ems and plastic paratroopers. Should be fun.

Director's Commentary: THE FLAMING URGE (1953)

2011-08-03T11:58:00.003-05:00

This week, long-time Film Fest veteran David Kodeski brings us The Flaming Urge--a film from that mythical American golden age, the 1950s, about a young man whose unspeakable urge to burn things down is absolutely not in anyway an allegory for his latent homosexual tendencies because nobody in the 1950s had homosexual tendencies ever ever ever and that's why it was America's golden age, honey I'm home where's my steak and my cocktail and the word "cocktail" is also not an innuendo of any kind either.

David had this to say about this Film Fest premiere:

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

DK: I was at Laurie's Planet of Sound exchanging some unwanted DVDs for store credit. As I waited for them to tally up the amount of credit I'd receive, I perused their tremendously wonderful and weird collection of DVDs. I'm a huge fan of exploitation and independent films from the pre-video era- and The Flaming Urge was one I'd never heard of. That it had this homosex subtext made it even more intriguing. The cherry on the sundae was the fact that this film's star, Harold Lloyd, Jr. was a gay, troubled, drug-addicted son of one of the richest and most famous men in Hollywood.

I knew it was a winner within the first few frames of the movie - as the narrator in stentorian tones let us know that "this young man" we were watching exiting a bus with suitcase in hand was "troubled."

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

DK: The fire sequences. I knew exactly how I wanted to depict them from the very first day- and John Szymanski totally hit a home run when I said to him, "I want some kind of Link Wray sort of riff for the fire to dance to." He created a totally danceable, grunge-sleaze track that is perfect in every way.

I knew also that the dancer had to be just right. He had to be able to convey that blend of indifference and desirability delivered by every exotic dancer that ever shook her money-maker in the sleaziest of dives or grind-house flicks. That being said, Ryan Walters just might have a new career ahead of him.

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

DK: "Charlotte, your hero’s problems will be over when he gets married."

5 Reasons to Register for the next Neo-Workshop (Solo Writing with Megan and Jess)

2011-07-29T16:02:00.003-05:00

1. When Jessica proposes intricate plays, she prefaces her pitch with, "Ok. This is not complicated." I am guessing she would say that about this class too. It's not rocket-science, so don't freak out. It's fun... especially when you can work with teachers who really get it.

2. Have you seen these two on stage? I mean... really. Powerhouse, brilliant, wordsmith, innovative, risky-in-all-the-right-ways goodness. They can teach you stuff. Honest.

3. This workshop focuses not just on solo work you perform solo, but also solo work from a Neo-Futurist aesthetic that stretches your narrative across several voices. Diversify your portfolio, your approach to personal narrative, and your understanding of the Neo-Futurist aesthetic all in one fell swoop!

4. One night a week. Eight weeks. Five solid pieces you can notch under your belt or onto your bedframe or wherever you like. Bottom line: This class delivers the goods.

5. We have this internal phrase we use when someone writes a really kick-ass play. We say it's a "Rock Star" play - meaning the audience goes ballistic when it's done. We all have rock star plays that involve a big, full cast, or a rollicking dance number, or something high energy and fun... but figuring out how to do the same thing when you're performing solo is somewhat harder. Megan and Jessica are rock star soloists.

Here are the details so you can register:

Solo Writing with Megan and Jess

Wenesdays, 7pm to10pm
August 17 – October 5
Taught by Megan Mercier and Jessica Anne
Cost: $250

This eight-week workshop focuses on the writing and development of individual solo work. Classes will cultivate emphasis on the physical habit of writing, both through in-class free writes and take home assignments. Students will workshop their writing together with the goal of honing personal voice within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic and time limitations, learning to translate the written word to performed narrative. Varieties of styles within short solo work are explored through specific assignments and the incorporation of staging, task, and multiple performers. The class will culminate in a casual final performance and a completed portfolio of at least five original pieces. Don’t be scared. This will be lots of fun. (Class size limited to 16)

All classes open to all ages and experience levels

and are held at The Neo-Futuriarium (5153 N. Ashland Avenue).

For more info or to register email neoclasses@gmail.com or register online at www.brownpapertickets.com

Not technically a pentahedron.

2011-07-29T10:47:00.003-05:00

As even people casually acquainted with our theater might have heard, the admission price to see Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind is decided by random chance when you reach the door: $9 plus the roll of a single six-sided die ($10-15).

Last week we tried an experiment and we liked it so much that we're going to try it again this weekend, and maybe even keep doing it for many weekends to come.

Here's how it works. When you come up to the door to pay for your admission, if you can show us on your smart-phone that you have either updated your Facebook status or sent out a Tweet that tells your friends/followers you're about to see Too Much Light or that you're hanging out in line to see The Neo-Futurists, or something similar...you'll be allowed to roll the fancy 5-sided die instead, potentially saving you a buck on that evening's performance.

And yes, technically a "1d5" has more like 24 sides, but that's just because it's statistically sound--it may not look like it, but it has in fact been crafted to evenly distribute its results.

So, to recap: Come to the show. Tell your social media networks you're at the show. Show us that you did that. Roll a 5-sided die instead of the 6-sided die. Tell your social media networks you just rolled a special 5-sided die to determine your admission.

Then shut off your phone. You're about to watch the show.

Director's Commentary: THE APPLE (1980)

2011-07-27T13:07:00.004-05:00

Last year, our friends (and flatmates) at Barrel of Monkeys -- who had previously graced the Film Fest with such high-energy shlock classics as Breakin' and Death Wish -- brought us a full-out, no-mercy onslaught of disco-infused Bible-thumping called The Apple. It made such an impression on everybody who saw it that it was voted to come back at its next available opportunity, which is, in fact, this Thursday. Co-directors Rachel Wilson and Geoff Rice give us a look inside their remount:

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

RACHEL: Collin Souter introduced us to The Apple. He's a film buff and hosted a viewing for Barrel of Monkeys where we watched it projected on a wall at his place. The movie is actually pretty delightful to watch. We questioned whether it would be right for the film fest because it's already campy, but we decided that even as a film that set out to be a campy disco musical, The Apple is horribly flawed. You've got the future-past setting, West Germany doubling for New York, the Biblical allegory, and a nebulously evil villain who's supposed to be the Devil but never does anything more awful than make people dance to annoying music. We're sitting there watching it and started playing the game of "if we did this for the film fest, who would play what part?" which is a game that happens a lot among Monkeys. We thought Tai Palmgren would make an eerily accurate Mr. Boogalow, and Donnell Williams is equally perfect for Boogalow's assistant Shake.

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

RW: Probably the musical numbers. The title song, for example, features a vision of hell with Alphie and Bibi (un)dressed as Adam and Eve, dancers in cheesy Halloween costumes, and the awkwardly oiled-up Dandi clapping in rhythm like he's at a hoedown. Bibi spends the entire song acting like she can't reach the giant apple prop that's right in front of her, and there's an "actual, actual, actual vampire!" What's not to like? Some of the music is actually catchy, though it's full of amazingly bad lyrics. Once Curtis Williams agreed to engineer the karaoke tracks, we knew we'd be okay, and Donnell Williams has captured the best of the bad choreography with a full dance ensemble

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

RW: This is a tough one. I think I'll go with some lyrics from "Life is Nothing but Showbusiness": "Mankind screamies for whatever bits of dreamies we might treat him to." I mean, it rhymes? But my favorite line to say is "I've never been so high in my life!" See, it's really smart because at that moment, Bibi is both literally and figuratively "high." She's real happy to be in a penthouse because she's "from the boondocks" and never saw buildings before, but due to crappy shooting locations, we never get to see the amazing view that so thrills her.

GEOFF: As far as favorite lines, I really love the times where we've incorporated the excruciatingly bad acting choice of emphasizing the least important word in a sentence. It's as if some of the actors in the movie have learned their lines phonetically even if english is in fact their first language. I'm hesitant to give examples because they won't translate to the written word. But suffice it to say Alex Goodrich as Dandi is doing some really nice "work" with them.

4. THE APPLE is a remount. Without giving away any surprises, can you talk about anything you have revised or re-imagined from the last performance?

RW: Our biggest changes are ones that recasting forced upon us. We lost our Narrator/Hippie Leader Brennan Buhl to the wilds of Montana, so Luke Hatton will be putting his own spin on the narration. And Collin wasn't able to reprise his roles either, so this time Curtis gets to be in the show and sing along with the tracks he worked so hard to produce.

URZENDOWSKI! HERE AND NOW-SKI!

2011-07-22T10:33:00.003-05:00

Three weeks ago we smacked you in the face with Tif Harrison. This weekend we toss a left cross in the form of our newest Neo-Futurist, Leah Urzendowski!

If you think you're ready for the furious onslaught of art coming your way, then come out this weekend and absorb the body blows. Leah promises to be gentle.

(Well, no she doesn't. Leah only promises it won't be fatal.)

Director's Commentary: KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK (1978)

2011-07-21T10:08:00.003-05:00

Simultaneously one of the largest and one of silliest of Film Fest performances, the original production of KISS Meets The Phantom of the Park
featured a cast performing several of the featured band's best-known hits in full KISS makeup...and tonight's performance won't be changing that winning formula at all. Co-directors John Pierson and Steve Walker talk about their long-standing affinity for this terrible, terrible film.

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

JP: You must realize that KISS was very important to rock fans of my age of 11. They were what I think superheroes are seen as to the comic book geeks, but KISS were real! Gene Simmons really had an extra long tongue and actually spat fire from his mouth. Ace Frehley was the shit, he only sang a few songs but, man he was odd and his melodies rocked my preteen world. So of course when it was announced that they were going to be on network television for anyone to watch, this was momentous. I could never have seen them live, never had any money, but I could watch them on my small black and white 7 inch TV. I invited over a few friends and we watched it. We inhaled all the outrageousness of the ridiculous plot and luxuriously bathed in every minute of it. I do not deny my love for this movie and that is why I feel privileged to point out its audaciously amateur production while reveling in its childhood greatness.

SW: KISS were scary to me growing up. KISS, it was widely believed at the time, was an acronym for Knights In Satan's Service. They made a comic book and used their own blood in the ink. For a young boy, this was a scary band. So when I saw this movie, one of the most ridiculous films ever made, my impression of them as these dangerous rock gods dissipated somewhat and I began to see them for what they truly are: rock and roll clowns.

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

SW: I still think KISS has some great songs, so the idea of doing this with a live band in full makeup was what excited me the most about it.

JP: I love the monkey fight!

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

SW: Anthony Zerbe, who plays the evil amusement park scientist, is the very definition of a professional. He's a brilliant actor and he really gives it his all in what had to be a career low point. So any line of his is great, just because he says it with such conviction.

"I will destroy you... all of you! And you, you KISS, will be my instrument!"

JP: "Ack!"

NF: KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK is a remount. Without giving away any surprises, can you talk about anything you have revised or re-imagined from the last performance?

SW: Snap-N-Pops.

Director's Commentary: DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS (1954)

2011-07-13T10:31:00.004-05:00

When It Came From The Neo-Futurarium debuted ten years ago, the first film to be staged was 1954's Devil Girl from Mars -- ironically, a film that was already adapted from a stage play. Edward Thomas-Herrera, who broke open the floodgates as director, talks to the Neo-Futurist blog about the film and his adaptation, and we write down everything he says to the blog, not wanting to tell him that the blog is just lines of code and widgets and does not actually understand a word he says.

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

ET-H: It started with a poster in Diana Slickman's living room. When [David] Kodeski brought the DVD home (he used to work for Siskel & Ebert and brought at least 10-15 DVDs home every week), I popped it in the player and fell in love.

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

ET-H: We've taken the trouble to recreate all special effects using household items: the flying saucer is a salad spinner, the ray guy is a power drill, etc. Does that excite me? In a strange way, yes.

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

ET-H: "Nothing like a good cup of tea in a crisis." - Mrs. Jameson, the elderly proprietor of the Bonnie Charlie, who still finds the time to make tea while an alien spacecraft sits in her back yard, threatening the world with total annihilation.

NF: DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS is a remount. Without giving away any surprises, can you talk about anything you have revised or re-imagined from the last performance?

ET-H: We are attempting to re-create the same production we mounted back in 2002 with very few changes (7 of our 9 original cast members are returning). Compared to subsequent Film Fest productions, it's remarkably austere. But that serves the script best, I think. Before it was a movie, DGFM was a radio drama, so it's got the very reserved character of a British drama.

Director's Commentary: THE CARE BEARS MOVIE (1985)

2011-07-06T09:29:00.003-05:00

Our fourth presentation for It Came From The Neo-Futurarium X is the first of our remounts: The House Theatre of Chicago, who also gave us the delightful Newsies and Tremors (Edited for Television) returns to our stage with their emotionally buoyant and merch-ariffic take on The Care Bears Movie.

The original production was directed by The House's artistic director Nathan Allen; for this return to cloudy Care-a-Lot, Nathan's handed over the reins to fellow House member Chris Mathews.

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon first viewing?

CM: Our company is pretty much comprised of children of the 80s, and most of us grew up with this film in one way or another--whether it was in repeated trips to the dollar theatre with our daycare, or watching ad nauseum on VHS. Our original submission (and performance) was in 2003, which still felt like a stage of infancy for The House. I'm not sure who in the company had the idea, but it was quickly and unanimously ratified as a "must do." And silly as it is, we actually found the ethics of the film to be rather confluent with our own ideals of not only trying to create great experiences of theatre, but to also try and put a little good back in the world. Somehow it felt aligned with our identity as a company. That's not to say our skin didn't crawl when we all sat down to watch it together--but we immediately realized what a playground of opportunity it was. And what a merchandise vehicle it was--they introduced ten new Care Bears for you to beg your parents to buy! (Totally worked.)

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

CM: The songs, for sure the songs. They're actually REALLY good--by children's movie standards. High stuck-in-your-head factor. With no sheet music available (that we could find), Shawn Pfautsch had to transpose the music through repeated rewinds & replays. (If you ever meet Shawn, it might be something to keep in the back of your head, that this is a man who's willfully listened to the CARE BEARS soundtrack probably more than any other living person.) So the songs really provided a key into the way we would approach our adaptation. You wanna do right by these great songs--and by the spirit of singing them--you'll get far less mileage if you spend all your time in the mockery gear. So as "bad" as the movie might be, we're really trying to come at it from a point of celebrating how much we all truly loved this movie as children. With a couple of winks to just how ridiculous it is.

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

CM: (excerpt from "Forest of Feelings")

FRIEND BEAR

My bed is cozy and light as a cloud.

KIM

Your bed is a cloud!

FRIEND BEAR

Oh...yeah.

...

ALL

...Different in some ways

Others not--

BRAVE HEART LION

'Cuz Home is in your Heart!

NF: THE CARE BEARS MOVIE is a remount. Without giving away any surprises, can you talk about anything you have revised or re-imagined from the last performance?

CM: Eight times the caring--EIght times the staring!

Ha! I guess our reading is still going to be pretty bare-bones and earnest as it was before.

But we've had some area-code changes within the company, so some folks are reprising their roles from 8 years ago--which is amazing to me--and then much like the Care Bears themselves, we've got some new friends who we've met along the way who'll join us in saving the world via caring and sharing our feelings.... So new voices, new opportunities. It's been fun to go through and be like, "Wait--what did we do here? It was hilarious...Oh Right! So check to that old idea, and check to that new idea--Great!"

But specifically, I'd keep your eyes peeled for a new approach to Share Bear. I would refresh your understanding of homophones.

Public Service Announcement: Like other classic pop-culture confections from the Film Fest's past, we're expecting this one to sell out...Buy Your Tickets Now!

INTRODUCING! TIF! HARRISON!

2011-07-01T09:54:00.002-05:00

Like the infamous Countess Elizabeth Bathory, every so often The Neo-Futurists need to soak themselves in the blood of fresh virgins.

That's a metaphor. Truly it is.

This weekend we introduce the first of our Neo-Neos (Class of 2011), the lovely and talented Tif Harrison! Stop on by this weekend and say hello, and watch as she takes her first stumbling steps on baby fawn legs.

That is also a metaphor. She has very human legs.

DIRECTORS' COMMENTARY: The Black Hole

2011-06-28T11:08:00.003-05:00

Part response to the success of Star Wars and mostly weird morality parable about science and hell, Disney's The Black Hole could be considered one of the films they publicize least in their catalog, right down there with The Black Cauldron and Song of the South. Nonetheless, this Thursday, Jen Ellison and Dave Stinton will bring it to the Neo-Futurarium for a one-time only staging.

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

DS: When Jen and I were thinking of proposing something, we knew we'd have to consult my college friend George, a connoisseur of B-movies. He told us about his childhood obsession with The Black Hole, and we realized we'd found not only our movie, but also our framing device. [The staged reading is narrated by George, finally consummating his obsession.]

When we first saw it, we were struck by how awkwardly it tries to straddle two directions. It's undeniably Disney (Cute robot friends having adventures!). But it's also going for something more sophisticated--it was the first PG production from Disney--so there are a couple violent (but bloodless) deaths, some lofty discussions about the mind of God, and of course the trippy & bewildering ending.

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

JE: Playing the title role is awesome. But the truly intriguing question was whether or not George could follow through on his obsessive craftsmanship and create all the robots from household objects. (Answer: Yes.)

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

JE: "Goon squad. Nice." It's bizarrely earwormy.

DS: "You will be remembered as one of the greatest space scientists of all time." Whatever 2001-style sci-fi pedigree your movie has, whatever revolutionary special effects or A-list character actors you add to it, that line will plant you firmly in B-Movie Land.

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: TipToes

2011-06-21T09:57:00.006-05:00

This week, It Came From the Neo-Futurarium! dives headlong into a couple of firsts. For one thing, Tiptoes represents the first time that the festival has ventured beyond the year 2000 to find its terrible material. For another, Tiptoes represents the first time that the festival has presented a dramedy about Matthew McConaughey's dwarf twin brother.

Director and Neo-Futurist alumnus Noelle Krimm had this to say about the movie and the reading coming up this Thursday night:

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

NK: During FEAR in 2009, Rawson Vint (who is in the cast) would come in and show us unbelievable film trailers that he had stumbled upon. TipToes was one of them. When I saw the trailer, my first reaction was that it couldn't possibly be real. It is just such an unreal combo of bad, bad idea, terrible writing, and All-Star cast. Turns out it is totally real. The members of my cast have been speculating upon how this movie possibly came to be. One theory is that they were hoping it would be their Rocky Horror - a bad film that would be so bad that it would become a cult classic. It's a mystery. I personally think they had very good intentions and truly believed they were making an important film at some point in the process but everything - and I mean everything - from script to direction to editing to performances went horribly horribly wrong.

2. What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

NK: Dealing with the dwarves and Gary Oldman's character in particular has been the most fun and most daunting element. I wanted to find a way to make fun of the film - which is largely about dwarves - without making fun of dwarves. I wanted to make fun of the awkward and unconvincing way they transformed Gary Oldman into a dwarf but wanted to make sure that was very different from the way we handled the fact that more than half the roles in the movie are played by actual dwarves and we have to make that clear as well. I am pretty excited about Mike [Tutaj]'s...um...look as Gary Oldman.

3. What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

NK: Kate Beckinsale as Carol (played by Chloe Johnston):

"Wait - you had a circle jerk with a bunch of little people? I would've loved to see that."

June Neo-Intensive this Saturday - plus two more summer workshops!

2011-06-15T07:01:00.003-05:00

Oh jeeeeeeeez. Where has the summer gone? When will it start??? Here at the Neo, we've started summer already - despite the uncooperative and stupidly frigid weather. The Film Fest begins this week, our special Pride edition of TML is coming up, and we've got our summer classes ready to go.

In fact, our June Neo-Intensive is this Saturday!!! There's still room, so if you're interested, be sure to sign up quick. We've also got two amazing workshops running. So come do some art - and tell the weather to suck it.

Wordless Neo-Futurism: Gesture, Movement, and Dance
Saturday, June 18 from 2-5:30pm
Taught by Genevra Gallo-Bayiates and Jay Torrence
Cost: $55

Explore the art of Neo-Futurism in the complete absence of language. This class will focus on narrative movement, gestural abstraction, and dance -- all through the lens of the Neo-Futurist aesthetic. Learn how to start from a place of personal truth and end up with a full-on movement extravaganza. We'll encourage you to let go of text and discover a more physically grounded process of telling your story, responding to current events, or seeking to create a one-of-a-kind experience for your audience. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 14.)

Intro to Too Much Light: Writing and Performing the Two-Minute Play
Saturdays, 10am to 2pm
July 2 – August 13
Taught by Kristie Koehler Vuocolo and Jay Torrence
Cost: $225 (7 weeks)

Ever wonder how Neo-Futurists create plays for Too Much Light? This workshop will explore the process and tools needed to create a 2-minute play in the Too Much Light style. We will examine specific play formulas and styles that recur on our stage. Students will write from their own life experiences and then examine staging techniques that will equip their scripts with mind-blowing, low-budget, renegade-theatrics. This class will mimic the actual weekly process of the show Too Much Light, focusing on our techniques for generating ideas and showing you how to write, stage and perform your own scripts. The class culminates in a student-written performance of 20 plays in 40 minutes in our theater - with a live audience and everything! No experience necessary. (Class size limited to 16.)

Solo Writing with Megan and Jess
Wenesdays, 7pm to10pm
August 17 – October 5
Taught by Megan Mercier and Jessica Anne
Cost: $250

This eight-week workshop focuses on the writing and development of individual solo work. Classes will cultivate emphasis on the physical habit of writing, both through in-class free writes and take home assignments. Students will workshop their writing together with the goal of honing personal voice within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic and time limitations, learning to translate the written word to performed narrative. Varieties of styles within short solo work are explored through specific assignments and the incorporation of staging, task, and multiple performers. The class will culminate in a casual final performance and a completed portfolio of at least five original pieces. Don’t be scared. This will be lots of fun. (Class size limited to 16)

To register, email Neoclasses@gmail.com or register online here.

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: Night of the Lepus

2011-06-14T12:09:00.004-05:00

You may have your own milestone for the beginning of summer, but around our theater for the past nine years the season doesn't officially start until It Came From The Neo-Futurarium! gets going. For this year's tenth anniversary, we've gone from six films to ten, including five classics restaged for those who missed them and those who remember them fondly.

Our opening film this year is Night of the Lepus (1972), a thrilling action-packed bloodbath about ravenous mutant bunnies running amok in Arizona. To help us kick things off, we asked Lepus director Jason Meyer a few questions about this hassenpfeffery horror:

NF: How did you find this film, and what was your reaction upon your first viewing?

JM: As someone who has trafficked in movie trivia, Night of the Lepus has been in the "deep reference" pile for a long time, but I'd never seen it. Searching for a movie combining the 1970s and science, I came across it and knew it'd be fun to try. My reaction? First, an astounded "Young Jeezy, how did this get made?" Then: "Uh-oh. I am liking it more and more each time."

NF: What scene or element were you most excited about adapting for the stage?

JM: Just about anything with the rabbits. You can go way silly when representing giant rabbits, yet you can't out-ridiculous the source material.

NF: What's your favorite line from this script (regardless of context)?

JM: Bypassing any number of lines about gas, shafts and holes, there's simple beauty in someone with a bullhorn addressing an entire drive-in theater:

"Attention, attention. Ladies and gentlemen, attention. There is a herd of killer rabbits headed this way, and we desperately need your help."

Night of the Lepus will be performed Thursday, June 16 @ 8 pm. BUY TICKETS HERE!

there's still time to donate Pride Art!

2011-06-03T01:19:00.000-05:00

OH. EM. GEE.---the Illinois state legislature legalized civil unions and we at The Neo-Futurarium received our very first Pride Art Exhibit! Take a look at this piece by photographer (also our lovely, talented box office/volunteer sorceress) Candice Conner entitled, "Another Take"

ANYONE is eligible for our Pride Art Exhibit at the Neo-Futurarium regardless of age, height, weight, gender, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, political persuasion, city of origin, or preferred baseball team. Anyone considering themselves enthusiastic about Pride or The Neo-Futurists or really just art in general is encouraged to submit. There is a $5 submission fee and all donations are tax deductible.

These pieces will hang in our State Park through the merry month of Pride and be sold to our audiences as just another way to raise money for our Pride beneficiary, The Alliance: Illinois Safe Schools.

Please submit by June 8th if you're able, but also don't hesitate to email us to request an extension. You can email us at our special Pride specific address.

HAPPY PRIDE!

Only 5 spots left for our May Neo-Intensive this Saturday!

2011-05-25T07:02:00.004-05:00

It's totally happened again. You forgot to get that kitty litter and had to make a special trip to the store at 2 in the morning to prevent your whole place continuing to smell like a vinegar-soaked urinal cake and then you said yes to something you should have said no to and now your waking hours are stretched so thin you're drinking five times as much coffee as usual, but at least it's supposed to be good for your health and oh my god there's still that assignment that got dumped on your desk last-minute yesterday that requires 40 hours and the week is half gone and it's MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.

We know. But don't worry. There's still time to register so you can actually do something enjoyable this weekend (and make some good art).

The Neo-Futurist Art of Abstraction
Saturday, May 28 from 2-6pm
Taught by Caitlin Stainken and Jessica Anne
Cost: $55

Sometimes you have an experience full of personal meaning or importance, but just telling the story as-is doesn't quite cut it. Abstraction can lead to an even greater sense of accuracy and a more profound emotional impact. Learn how to distill the facts to explore the most salient impressions and memories of an event, creating an abstract piece based on your real experience. We'll teach you how to go beyond literal interpretation to explore multiple layers of genuine expression so that every story you tell "lands" with full force. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 12.)

All classes open to all ages and experience levels
and are held at The Neo-Futuriarium (5153 N. Ashland Avenue).

For more info or to register email neoclasses@gmail.com or visit www.neofuturists.org

Set List May 15th 2011

2011-05-18T09:31:00.004-05:00

I did this for a TML show back in November 2008 , documenting the occurrence of a particularly memorable and fun show where the cast had added to the menu an impossible 14 plays and the cast consisted of all brand new ensemble (and John).

The show I'd like to solidify here is exceptional for a few reasons. For one thing, the entire active ensemble was in the building at the same time this night, if not onstage. You see, this past weekend was the first round of auditions for new neofuturists, so Bilal, Jessica, Greg, Phil, Caitlin, Genevra, Eliza, Mary, and Tim were in the office, working on that process, while Jay, Ryan, and myself took a "break" to perform TML, with Megan watching (this entire group of people had been at theater since 11 that morning). In addition, four neofuturist alumni were also there to actually perform the show, creating this anomaly of a cross-generational balance of neos throughout the years. This was Dina, Chloe, Ryan, Lisa, Kurt, Jay, and Kristie (interesting side note: that includes all the Barrel of Monkeys-Neo-Futurists-hybrids that exist, sadly minus Jonathan Mastro, but he was here only a few weeks ago and I'm sure he left some residue).

The show that resulted was celebratory, engaging, and fast. The audience was a substantially large Sunday crowd, in a very smiley mood, and, seemingly, of all walks of life. Which is very good for our theater, as well as Theater in general.

Special thanks to the alumnus involved in this. Here's the menu

Only 2 weeks left to register for the May Neo-Intensive

2011-05-12T10:21:00.000-05:00

Okay... technically, it's more like 2 weeks and 2 days. Or something like that. But the point is, we're fast-approaching our May Neo-Intensive: The Neo-Futurist Art of Abstraction (taught by amazingly talented ensemble members Caitlin Stainken and Jessica Anne).

These intensives have been wildly popular and insanely fun to do. Don't miss out on the opportunity to work directly with ensemble members in an intimate setting, delving into a specialized area of Neo-Futurism!

Here's all the info you might need:

1. PAY BY CHECK
Email Neoclasses@gmail.com to express your interest, and mail or drop off a non-refundable check ($55) to The Neo-Futurarium at 5153 North Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL, 60640. (Important! Please write on the check the name of the class you are taking. Also include your email and phone number so that we can confirm your registration.)

OR...

2. PAY ONLINE
Register and pay online to reserve your spot.

This allows you to pay in full and confirm your registration immediately.

FULL DISCLOSURE: There is a service fee when you pay online. It varies depending on the price of the class/workshop you’re taking… but we just want to be sure you know. If you want to avoid the fees, you are always able to use option 1. If you like the convenience and want to pay online, go for it. We’ll love you either way. Promise.

2011 Neo Pride Beneficiary!

2011-05-05T11:15:00.002-05:00

The Neo-Futurists are very excited to announce Illinois Safe Schools Alliance as our beneficiary for our annual Pride event this June!

In additions to receiving proceeds from our "30 Queer Plays in 30 Queer Minutes" shows, 100% of all proceeds from our Art Exhibit Silent Auction will also go to this organization. Please click here if you missed the blog post calling for artist submissions

Illinois Safe Schools Alliance (The Alliance) works to promote safety and tolerance in Illinois schools with a continued effort to make places of learning a haven for students of any genders and sexual orientation. They strive to unite all students and educators, encouraging communities to grow with tolerance, compassion, and a willingness to stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed as a result of adverse feelings. The Neo-Futurists are very excited to work with such a positive, forward thinking group as we celebrate our alliance with the LGBTQ community this summer and always.

!!!PERFORMING TONIGHT: LIZA MINNELLI'S DAUGHTER!!!

2011-04-28T15:35:00.001-05:00

theatre PERFORMING TONIGHT: LIZA MINNELLI’S DAUGHTER
Oh, those nutty Neos. Here, the troupe vet Mary Fons plays a woman obsessively certain she is fated to stardom as the offspring of Liza with a Z. Somewhere, Lorna Luft can sympathize.
GO: Previews 4/28–29. Run continues through 6/4. All tickets $10–$15. Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N Ashland. neofuturists.org

The Neos want your LGBTQ Pride Artwork!

2011-04-27T09:40:00.001-05:00

The Neo-Futurists present "30 Queer Plays in 30 Queer Minutes" - Call for Artists!

The Neo-Futurists, known for their long-running late night show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, invite artists to submit visual work of any physical medium for their 2011 Pride Weekend Celebration (June 24/25). Accepted work will be displayed in our space for audiences to enjoy during the month of June as we rally in alliance with our queer community. Submission is open to all artists regardless of age, gender, race, or sexual orientation. Artists should take into consideration the Neo-Futurist aesthetic and their personal connections to queer culture no matter what those connections may be. All accepted works will be eligible for a silent auction during Pride weekend, with all proceeds benefiting a relevant organization to be decided by The Neo-Futurists.

Work will be accepted with a submission fee of $5 cash or check during office hours, Monday - Friday from 11 to 5pm at The Neo-Futurarium, located at 5153 N. Ashland Avenue in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Art should arrive ready to hang. Deadline for submissions is Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 at 5pm. Please contact our Pride Committee if an alternate delivery time is necessary, though no late submissions will be accepted.

Please direct any questions or concerns relative to this call and/or our Pride event to The Neo-Futurists Pride Committee at ProudNeofuturists@gmail.com

World Premiere Preview (April 22-24)

2011-04-22T14:55:00.003-05:00

hello to you.

"too much light makes the baby go blind"

this week- 11 world premieres.

1 returning masterpiece.

5 cast member - chloe, tim, kurt, lisa, & ryan.

rocking the tech booth - mindy.

World Premiere Bi-weekly (April 8-17, 2011)

2011-04-14T23:07:00.002-05:00

In an ill-conceived, poorly executed, and otherwise unwanted experiment, the Neo-Futurists tried to see what would happen to their circulation and subscription income if they switched from a weekly preview of new plays to a bi-weekly edition. Realizing midway through the experiment that a blog didn't really have a circulation, nor did it generate any subscription income to speak of, they then hastily posted the titles of all plays that had been created in the two-week span, obfuscating the simple fact that the previous week's post had simply been forgotten by pretending that an experiment in bi-weekly blog posting had taken place and further obfuscating that fact by using overwrought vocabulary and twisty, illogically constructed sentences.

Megan, Kurt, Ryan, Greg, Lisa, Caitlin, and Phil were in the show for the past two weeks. They produced the following 15 plays:

Tragedy + Time + Opera (Greg Allen)
Awry at Applebee's, Starring Kurt Chiang... (Lisa Buscani)
Multiple Strategy Utilitarianism (Lisa Buscani)
The Trajectory of Cash Flow (Kurt Chiang)
**SPAM** (Kurt Chiang)
on a cell phone to a Land Line in Gaithers... (Kurt Chiang)
Pair Up (Kurt Chiang)
Apartment Living (Caitlin Stainken)
Money Money Money (Caitlin Stainken)
It's Like College. (Caitlin Stainken)
The Outro Speech (think of this while you're leaving) (Caitlin Stainken)
Building Blocks (Ryan Walters)
If there are a finite number of conversations... (Ryan Walters)
Won't You be my Mover (Ryan Walters)
Recent Developments (Ryan Walters)

And so the experiment that had never been an experiment but merely a fiction disguised as an experiment ended, having never begun or been previously considered in the first place.

The April Neo-Intensive is SOLD OUT

2011-04-13T16:39:00.003-05:00

I know, I know. Life gets busy and you start forgetting things or keep putting stuff off until one day you look up and its mid-April and half the shit you meant to do last week has come and gone and you realize you're way SOL on that work deadline and the thing with the thing you were supposed to attend and oh yeah you were supposed to send flowers to your grandmother and you totally forgot and now you feel like a Grade A suckbag.

Don't worry. We've been there too.

Cheer up and shake it off, 'cause we've got a workshop on monologuery and solo work coming up in August!!

That's right, if you missed the chance to test your solo writing chops with Megan and Bilal's TKO Solo: Writing and Performing a High Impact Monologue, you can simply register for Megan and Jess's class instead. How's that for got your back?

Solo Writing with Megan and Jess
Wenesdays, 7pm to10pm
August 17 – October 5
Taught by Megan Mercier and Jessica Anne
Cost: $250

This eight-week workshop focuses on the writing and development of individual solo work. Classes will cultivate emphasis on the physical habit of writing, both through in-class free writes and take home assignments. Students will workshop their writing together with the goal of honing personal voice within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic and time limitations, learning to translate the written word to performed narrative. Varieties of styles within short solo work are explored through specific assignments and the incorporation of staging, task, and multiple performers. The class will culminate in a casual final performance and a completed portfolio of at least five original pieces. Don’t be scared. This will be lots of fun. (Class size limited to 16)

And just in case you can't imagine what one could learn in a class about solo writing and performing, check out this excellent example of student-generated work from Trevor Dawkins:

Only 4 more days to register for our April Neo-Intensive

2011-04-09T07:24:00.005-05:00

That's right - only 4 more days to secure a spot in our April Neo-Intensive... TKO Solo: Writing and Performing a High Impact Monologue.

Created and taught by ensemble members Bilal Dardai and Megan Mercier, this class provides a sharp focus on the art of crafting a powerful piece of solo work. This class has been filling up quickly, so if you are interested... hurry up and register!

We've included a little snippet of a student-created high-impact monologue for your viewing pleasure: "Priority Lapse" by Kevin Duvall...

Here are all the details, should you want to register:

TKO Solo: Writing and Performing a High-Impact Monologue
Wednesday, April 13 from 6:30-10:30pm
Taught by Bilal Dardai and Megan Mercier
Cost: $55

Be it personal, political, side-splitting, sharp-shooting, gut-wrenching, or poo-flinging... the Neo-Futurist-style monologue attacks from any angle you can imagine. We'll show you how to craft a two-minute solo piece as quick and stunning as a rabbit-punch to the jaw--capable of moving your audience's hearts, or possibly changing their minds. Learn how to combine your unique personality and experiences with vibrant language, task-based performance, abstract imagery, and any other hidden talents you need to free from your system and into the world. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 12.)

Register online @ www.neofuturists.org or contact neoclasses@gmail.com with any questions.

World Premiere Preview (April 1-3, 2011)

2011-04-01T08:54:00.003-05:00

Still high off our recent visit from the New York Neo-Futurists, this week the Chicago cast decided to take the entire show off and hand it over instead to our compatriots in Neo-Futurist Europe. Show up tonight and you won't see World Premieres, per se, but you do get to see five plays never before seen on this side of the Atlantic, performed by our talented brothers and sisters in Neo-Futurism.

Giacomo, Brigitte, Heinrich, Nigel, and Rafaela present the following plays:

NFCS: Capacità di distruggere più di quanto necessario (Giacomo Esposito)
ein vollkommenerer Querlenker (Heinrich König)
"Su Sitio Es Reservado Ahora" (Rafaela Reyes)
discussion: en session (Brigitte Desmarais)
déviations de la norme (Brigitte Desmarais)

What's that? You didn't know we had a Neo-Futurist Europe? Well if that isn't just a prime example of American exceptionalism, I don't know what is.

NEO-FUTURISTS SEEK NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR!

2011-03-30T16:21:00.002-05:00

It's true...our beloved MD Lindsay Muscato is leaving The Neo-Futurists behind to bring her stellar combination of smarts and sass and brilliant inner light to the rest of the world (right now, specifically, to young women in a Cambodian school).

That means we have a vacuum. Nature abhors that sort of thing. If you would like to help us fill that void, please read the job description below and apply.

MANAGING DIRECTOR
The Neo-Futurists

The Neo-Futurists are seeking a full-time managing director with 2+ years experience in arts
management. The Neo-Futurists are a collective of wildly productive writer/director/performers
who create theater that is a fusion of sport, poetry, and living newspaper. Their unique style of
non-illusory, interactive performance has established them as one of the most respected
theater companies in the country. Since their inception in 1988, The Neo-Futurists have been
delivering immediate, unreproducible events at headslappingly affordable prices. Now in its 23rd consecutive year, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is the longest-running show in
Chicago history.

The Managing Director (MD) leads the senior staff (including the Artistic Director and Founding
Director) and reports to the Board of Directors. S/he stewards this ensemble-centric
organization by overseeing planning, implementation, operations, and resource development to
facilitate the art and uphold the mission, vision, and strategic plan.

The MD is The Neo-Futurists’ principal administrator, keeping the organization afloat by overseeing and executing essential day-to-day operations, including: financial management (payroll, budgeting, financial controls, etc.), facilities, communications, marketing, community relations, personnel management, and attending board, staff, and ensemble meetings.

Applicant must possess an unbridled passion for Neo-Futurism, an open, collaborative spirit, a
heady mix of efficiency and creativity, and the ability to serve as a representative of this
nationally recognized company. Candidates must possess a stunning mastery of the English
language, including unparalleled written and verbal communication skills. Candidates must have excellent computer skills including Excel and Word (an understanding of web development is a major plus), as well as accurate attention to detail. Bachelor’s degree required (master’s
preferred).

If you think you’re the one The Neo-Futurists are looking for, please submit your resume and a
one-page cover letter illustrating how you would lead the Neos to spectacular levels of
organizational excellence. Email admin@neofuturists.org with the subject line: “I could be the Managing Director you are looking for” by April 18th.

For more information on The Neo-Futurists, please visit our website: www.neofuturists.org.

World Premiere Preview (March 25-27, 2011)

2011-03-25T00:35:00.002-05:00

The six new plays this week are like that group of dusty-cloaked strangers who are here to clean up this town or die trying.

They're like the brand new circus act that's going to change the way you see the trapeze.

They're like a team of super-heroes responding to the ringing red klaxon in their underground fortress.

They're like individually written works of 1-3 minute art produced on a stage for public consumption. Exactly like that.

Phil, Bilal, Megan, Caitlin, and Greg present:

The Perfect (Boring Day Job) Crime (Caitlin Stainken)
how.they.get.cha.dot.com (Bilal Dardai)
life a' Riley (Megan Mercier)
the end of the line (at the end of the sidewalk at the end of a rope hanging by a thread) (Megan Mercier)
Singing While Driving (Phil Ridarelli)
...and now here's Phil with the traffic. (Phil Ridarelli)

This last sentence is like the only survivor of a bloody gangland massacre.

World Premiere Preview (March 18-20, 2011)

2011-03-18T09:55:00.002-05:00

Boxcars!

Volunteers from our Friday and Sunday night audiences combined to rain double-sixes on our cast of five, just one weekend after we'd been forced to cut and replace 11 plays on the line. Perhaps energized by the definitive return of spring weather this week, Caitlin, Phil, Greg, Megan, and Bilal rose to the challenge and brought in 12 brand-new plays--no untimely-ripped pieces, no bring-backs, no whammies no whammies no whammies.

New material this week:

It's Not Raining On My Face (Greg Allen)
These Things Are True (Greg Allen)
Hooks Left, Slices Right (Bilal Dardai)
Etiquette, Etcetera (Bilal Dardai)
Can I Get a Witness? (Phil Ridarelli)
Elementary Documentary (Phil Ridarelli)
The Intro Speech* (Caitlin Stainken)
Write this play (Caitlin Stainken)
Hold me while I read the news (Caitlin Stainken)
first cars (Megan Mercier)
how the other half loves (Megan Mercier)
little sister and i over so many minutes, in a nutshell, by proxy (Megan Mercier)

* (call this number if you don't know what is happening)

Thing I just now learned: there is no slang term in craps for any roll of 7. Incidentally, if that's what we roll this weekend we will end up completely rotating the menu in just three short weeks.

Spring/Summer Workhops and Classes

2011-03-17T07:35:00.003-05:00

You like it.
We teach it.
So come on and do it.

We are back with a full line-up of workshops and neo-intensives for the spring and summer months ahead! So whether you're looking for a one-time deal or an 8-week extravaganza - we've got you covered. Heck - you could take every single one if you wanted to.

April Intensive: TKO Solo: Writing and Performing a High-Impact Monologue
May Workshop: Master Classes in Neo-Futurism with Founder Greg Allen
May Intensive: The Neo-Futurist Art of Abstraction
June Intensive: Wordless Neo-Futurism: Gesture, Movement, and Dance
July Workshop: Intro to Too Much Light: Writing and Performing the 2-Minute Play
August Workshop: Solo Writing with Megan and Jess

All the info is below, or you can also go directly to the classes area of our website to learn more and register online!

2011 SUMMER WORKSHOPS

Master Classes in Neo-Futurism with Founder Greg Allen
Wednesdays, 7pm to 10pm
May 4 – June 22
Taught by Greg Allen
Cost: $250

This is a rare opportunity to learn Neo-Futurism from the man who coined the term. Over the course of eight three-hour sessions, Neo-Futurist Founding Director Greg Allen will introduce you to the basic theory and practice of Neo-Futurism - a new, honest method of devising your own work for the theater. This workshop focuses on how to take yourself, your personal experiences, and your immediate surroundings and turn them into visceral performances which connect to the audience in unique and compelling ways. Using various exercises and assignments created in over 25 years of teaching, Greg creates an environment that is challenging, intimate, and fun. NO ACTING EXPERIENCE NECESSARY, just interest in developing an artistic expression of your life. (Class size limited to 15)

Intro to Too Much Light: Writing and Performing the Two-Minute Play
Saturdays, 11am to 2pm
July 2 – August 13
Taught by Kristie Koehler Vuocolo and Jay Torrence
Cost: $225 (7 weeks)

Ever wonder how Neo-Futurists create plays for Too Much Light? This workshop will explore the process and tools needed to create a 2-minute play in the Too Much Light style. We will examine specific play formulas and styles that recur on our stage. Students will write from their own life experiences and then examine staging techniques that will equip their scripts with mind-blowing, low-budget, renegade-theatrics. This class will mimic the actual weekly process of the show Too Much Light, focusing on our techniques for generating ideas and showing you how to write, stage and perform your own scripts. The class culminates in a student-written performance of 20 plays in 40 minutes in our theater - with a live audience and everything! No experience necessary. (Class size limited to 16.)

Solo Writing with Megan and Jess
Wenesdays, 7pm to10pm
August 17 – October 5
Taught by Megan Mercier and Jessica Anne
Cost: $250

This eight-week workshop focuses on the writing and development of individual solo work. Classes will cultivate emphasis on the physical habit of writing, both through in-class free writes and take home assignments. Students will workshop their writing together with the goal of honing personal voice within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic and time limitations, learning to translate the written word to performed narrative. Varieties of styles within short solo work are explored through specific assignments and the incorporation of staging, task, and multiple performers. The class will culminate in a casual final performance and a completed portfolio of at least five original pieces. Don’t be scared. This will be lots of fun. (Class size limited to 16)

2011 SPRING & SUMMER NEO-INTENSIVES

Based on your feedback, we've pared down the size limit and increased the amount of time for each class. Get up close and personal with ensemble members in these tightly focused and uniquely crafted neo-intensives.

TKO Solo: Writing and Performing a High-Impact Monologue
Wednesday, April 13 from 6:30-10:30pm
Taught by Bilal Dardai and Megan Mercier
Cost: $55

Be it personal, political, side-splitting, sharp-shooting, gut-wrenching, or poo-flinging... the Neo-Futurist-style monologue attacks from any angle you can imagine. We'll show you how to craft a two-minute solo piece as quick and stunning as a rabbit-punch to the jaw--capable of moving your audience's hearts, or possibly changing their minds. Learn how to combine your unique personality and experiences with vibrant language, task-based performance, abstract imagery, and any other hidden talents you need to free from your system and into the world. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 12.)

The Neo-Futurist Art of Abstraction
Saturday, May 28 from 2-6pm
Taught by Genevra Gallo-Bayiates and Caitlin Stainken
Cost: $55

Sometimes you have an experience full of personal meaning or importance, but just telling the story as-is doesn't quite cut it. Abstraction can lead to an even greater sense of accuracy and a more profound emotional impact. Learn how to distill the facts to explore the most salient impressions and memories of an event, creating an abstract piece based on your real experience. We'll teach you how to go beyond literal interpretation to explore multiple layers of genuine expression so that every story you tell "lands" with full force. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 12.)

Wordless Neo-Futurism: Gesture, Movement, and Dance
Saturday, June 18 from 2-6pm
Taught by Neo-Futurist Ensemble Members
Cost: $55

Explore the art of Neo-Futurism in the complete absence of language. This class will focus on narrative movement, gestural abstraction, and dance -- all through the lens of the Neo-Futurist aesthetic. Learn how to start from a place of personal truth and end up with a full-on movement extravaganza. We'll encourage you to let go of text and discover a more physically grounded process of telling your story, responding to current events, or seeking to create a one-of-a-kind experience for your audience. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 14.)

World Premiere Preview (March 11-13, 2011)

2011-03-11T07:44:00.002-06:00

Welcome to another week of mighty high-rollin' menu turnover! Five rough-riding Neos--Phil, Megan, Bilal, Caitlin, and Greg met up this week to create 11 brand-new plays for the Too Much Light audience. Create they did, propose they did, rehearse they did, and starting tonight, perform they will.

For no real reason, here are the eleven titles linked to the first videos that came up on YouTube by placing those titles in the search bar. They may or may not reflect the actual plays you will see if you show up this weekend. They may or may not be safe for work.

The Neo-Futurists Present Walt Disney Magnet School Presents Mr. Reilly's 1st Grade Presentation of "Energy: A Musical Presentation!" (Phil Ridarelli)
It's Back (Caitlin Stainken)
Spooning (Caitlin Stainken)
Late Evening Dry Land Dolphin-Based Book Club (Bilal Dardai)
The Audience Presents a Climactic Moment from the Films of Stanley Kubrick (Bilal Dardai)
Inside the Neo Studio (Greg Allen)
How To War (Greg Allen)
Patterns (Greg Allen)
it's too noisy in here (Megan Mercier)
i got held back in kindergarten, so now i'm a people pleaser (Megan Mercier)
digits (Megan Mercier)

Final reminder: you only have two more chances to catch our "conversational, thought-provoking pleasure," Laika Dog in Space, before it rockets back to New York City along with its cast.

World Premiere Preview (March 4-6, 2011)

2011-03-04T10:17:00.002-06:00

We cut 6 plays from the menu last week. Those six plays were numbers 14, 19, 20, 23, 25, and 26.

If you add those numbers together you get 127.

If you add the digits in 127 together you get 10.

In binary, 10 is the numeral for 2.

In Roman numerals 2 is written as II.

"Aye Aye" is what sailors say to each other other to respond in the affirmative.

Phil, Greg, Eevin, Megan, Bilal, and Caitlin are not sailors. So you see how that works out, right?

World premieres this week:

I Could Tell You Something... (Eevin Hartsough)
The right people (Caitlin Stainken)
Over Your Head (Greg Allen)
this play is going nowhere (and it might not come back) (Megan Mercier)
Two Lighthouses Passing in the Night (Bilal Dardai)
Three Whack-Jobs Walk Into a Bar... (Phil Ridarelli/Bilal Dardai)

There are six world premieres. Two of the titles include the numbers "two" and "three." Two times three is six. Exactly. You get it.

Vote for This Year's Super-Sized Film Fest!

2011-03-01T09:19:00.004-06:00

BATTLE STATIONS! BATTLE STATIONS!

This year's It Came From The Neo-Futurarium is the tenth year in a row that we've been presenting our staged readings of terrible movies. In honor of that milestone, Galactic Empress Rachel Claff has decreed that Film Fest X: Battle For The Neo-Futurarium! will be a double-sized, epic affair: ten films over ten weeks, featuring five remounts of readings done throughout the entire history of the Festival!

Whether you have come to every film since Devil Girl from Mars or you've never seen what makes each summer's festival so special, you can vote for which of our classic presentations you would most like to see return to the Thunderdome. Follow this link to champion either those films you saw once and wished you could see again, or those films that you have been consumed with regret for missing.

Additionally, if you have a film that you would like to propose for one of the five "new film" slots, you can request a proposal form by emailing neofilmfest@gmail.com. Proposals are due by April 10, 2011!

44 Plays for 44 Presidents in 2012

2011-03-01T09:16:00.005-06:00

Hello Neo-Futurists fans,

You may not remember me but I was an active Neo-Futurist from 1999 - 2005. I curated and co-wrote a show called 43 Plays for 43 Presidents at the Neos in 2002. It was a big hit. We brought it back in 2004 and it even got published. It actually gets produced by other companies--even high schools. Can you imagine? This weekend, I'll be in Little Rock Arkansas, watching 70 kids perform a Neo-Futurist show that was written for five performers in a modest little space above a funeral home. Picture 70 kids singing "We love Dick" [Nixon] with flashlights to their faces. Word.

Why do I bring this up? We're remounting the show again in 2012 at the Neo-Futurist Theatre, but we're not just doing a remount. We're recruiting other companies to join us in a nation-wide festival of 44 separate productions--one for each president. The Neos are the Barack Obama Production Oh, there's so much more.

Please do me two quick favors if you can:

1. Like our little fan page on Facebook

2. Check out our website and send the word out.

I have missed you Neo-Futurist fans. This idea has been a dream of mine for the past seven years and I'm really excited that we'll be doing it again at my old artistic home--for you!

I hope you're excited, too.

Request for Play: "a one breath poem" by Caitlin Stainken

2011-02-28T09:25:00.002-06:00

Someone in the audience recently saw this play by Caitlin Stainken and requested to see the words rather than just hear them, so here they are.

Allow for some context:

Here, it is a poem you can read at whatever pace you wish, but in performance, Caitlin takes a deep, slow breath in, and delivers the poem at a rapid but measured tempo, so that the words are still clear, until she finishes speaking, and then takes another breath in (because she needs to) before the "curtain" is called.

One thing that you notice or find surprising -- if you saw this play -- is that when a human loses breath while speaking, it's not like a tape winding down or some other other gradual process. It's much more messy than that. So when you hear Caitlin perform this, you don't really get the sense that she is doing something kind of dangerous or tense until around the 2nd to last line, when her voice suddenly raises pitch, speeds up, and her eyes kind of blink out of her head, and you, the audience, briefly freak out, because, for some reason, you weren't expecting that. And then everyone breathes.

---

a one breath poem
by Caitlin Stainken, October 2010

I was nice to him, he was nice to me.
He went away for a little while.
I missed him, he missed me.
I dreamed of being greeted like the war was over.
He greeted me like he had been away for a little while.
I felt slighted. He felt attacked.
I told him I felt slighted. He told me he felt attacked.
I got upset. He got defensive.
We both got quiet.
Time passed. We were quiet.
We slept.
We ate fruit.
We read books.
He talked to his family. I talked to my family.
We talked about home.
He woke up early one morning and brought me coffee before work
And that's how I know.

CURTAIN

World Premiere Preview (February 25-27, 2011)

2011-02-25T09:12:00.004-06:00

As we kiss February goodbye and prepare to anoint this year's Best Performances and Achievements and $10,000 Outfits and Scandalous Snoggings and Drunken Violations of FCC Standards by Practitioners of Specific Arts within the Motion Picture Industry...we the Neo-Futurists would like to thank all of you for continuing to push us to create new work, week in and week out.

We would also like to thank our agents.

Those of us who have agents.

The cast swells for one week to seven Neo-Futurists, and Caitlin, Greg, Eevin, Bilal, Phil, Jill, and Megan present the following seven world premieres:

requiem for a dream deferred (Megan Mercier)
In the lonely grove of those left hanging... (Bilal Dardai and Dana Dardai)
Nevermore (Eevin Hartsough)
Make your blind justice jokes here (Caitlin Stainken)
Secret Weapons (Caitlin Stainken)
Save Phil! (Phil Ridarelli)
(F)lying (Phil Ridarelli)

We also present this Chicago premiere, which originally debuted in New York City and has, according to the author, been "28% revised" since its original run:

Sadie Hawkins (Eevin Hartsough)

Although none of us are a stammering one-eyed royal ballerina toy cowboy boxer in a lesbian relationship who cuts off their own arm and starts a ubiquitous website in their meth-addicted dreams...we think you'll find our show pretty entertaining this week.

Less than 2 weeks to register for the March workshop!

2011-02-23T19:40:00.003-06:00

I don't know about you, but the first part of 2011 has felt like a speed/spin/stress extravaganza. So... it's no wonder you haven't registered yet for the upcoming March workshop. Totally cool.

But we'd hate for you to miss it. Especially because taking a class with us can help take that speed/spin/stress-ness and change it into something purposeful and truly kick ass.

That said, here are the details. March 5 is the first class y'all - so get in quick if you're interested.

Un-reproducible Performance: Creating Theatre without a Safety Net
Saturdays, 2-5pm
March 5 - April 23
Taught by Genevra Gallo-Bayiates and Rachel Claff

A Neo-Futurist approach to creating theatre that cannot be repeated. You've seen us do it all the time in TMLMTBGB and our prime-time season shows… and it’s one of the core tenets of Neo-Futurism that makes what we do so unique and challenging. This class emphasizes writing and performance, incorporating Neo-Futurist approaches to ensure that plays cannot be performed exactly the same way twice. We'll tackle interviews, improvisation, site-specific performance, audience interaction, and much more. We'll challenge you to expand your comfort zone as you explore risk-taking and creative spontaneity in order to surprise, scare, and push yourself as a writer and performer. All ages/abilities welcome.

Class cost: $250
Location: The Neo-Futurarium (5153 N. Ashland)
You can register online at Brown Paper Tickets, or if you need to pay by check, email neoclasses@gmail.com to make other arrangements.

* * * * * *

Okay... still not sure exactly what we're talking about? Here's a video sample of a play from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind that would fall into the "Un-Reproducible" category. It's got food; it's got audience participation; and it was scripted in a way that allowed each performer to set (and change) his or her movements on any given night.

Taiko PB-n-J

World Premiere Preview (February 18-20, 2011)

2011-02-17T23:41:00.002-06:00

Last week, the cast of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (Chicago edition) welcomed into its ranks Jill Beckman (New York edition). This week we further expand the tent to let in another NY Neo, Eevin Hartsough, also currently performing with Ms. Beckman and Rob Neill in our critically acclaimed transplant production of Laika Dog in Space.

As if to be impressive to our guests, this week the cast of TML decided that their roll of 5 last weekend needed to be doubled. So rather than cutting a mere 1/6 of the menu, we went ahead and cut a full third of it, leaving room for the cast of Jill, Bilal, Phil, Megan, Greg, and Eevin to bring in an eclectic mix of new and seasoned work.

This week's world premieres include:

You Are All Individuals (Greg Allen)
An Actor Acts (Phil Ridarelli)
portrait of a little town near the top of Maslow's pyramid (Eevin Hartsough)
Relative Dimensions (Bilal Dardai)
About a buck-seven (Bilal Dardai)
musically blue balled (Megan Mercier)
socialized social networking service (Megan Mercier)
Eevin and Jill in: Girlshow! the girl show (Jill Beckman and Eevin Hartsough)

With a Chicago premiere of:

Hot Seat (Jill Beckman)

And the return of:

Wide Awake (Half Asleep) (Phil Ridarelli)

Jill and Eevin are only here for a short time! After mid-March, you'll have to travel to NYC to see them perform! Act now! Supplies are limited!

World Premiere Preview (February 11-13, 2011)

2011-02-10T14:08:00.003-06:00

Like a prizefighter with a wicked flurry, Neos from two separate cities hit you with show after show after show this for the next five nights!

Thursday to Sunday: The New York Neo-Futurists' Laika Dog in Space returns to probe isolation and connectivity through the eyes of the first mammal in orbit!

Friday to Sunday: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind welcomes NY Neo (and Laika co-creator) Jill Beckman to the Chicago rotation. Fun fact! Although appearing on our stage for the first time via the Big Apple, Jill is actually a product of Chicago suburb Downers Grove...just like Chicago Neo Bilal Dardai. (She went to Downers South. He went to Downers North. They keep frontin' with each other like they got beef or sump'n.)

Monday: Our special Valentine's Day evening, Too Much Love, presents 30 plays about love and the occasional absence of love in 60 sweet and salty minutes!

Nine new plays this week, written and performed by Bilal, Ryan, Eliza, Jill, and Greg, eight of them world-premieres:

'Tis the Season, or We Like You! We *Really* Like You! (Jill Beckman)
Schrodinger's Gato (Ryan Walters)
Diagnosis (Eliza Burmester)
Place Mat (Eliza Burmester)
Kiss & Tell: A Full (Frontal) Disclosure Play (Greg Allen)
Still Image on a Wall (Greg Allen)
Mail Delivery Subsystem (Bilal Dardai)
We Are All The Same Shade of Pale Yellow-Orangeish (Bilal Dardai)

And one a Chicago premiere:

SEANCE FOR DUMMIES (Jill Beckman)

If you happen to stumble or slide into our theater any evening this week, you'll find us performing something. Stay awhile. It's frickin' cold out there.

the truth about cats and dogs

2011-02-05T01:00:00.000-06:00

cats are little jerks who pee on your sweaters and puke on your rug.

dogs prance in the snows by Lake Michigan. they cry when you leave.
humans love dogs do much that they let their dogs have too many dogs, forcing the ASPCA to make heart wrenching commercials underscored by Sarah McLachlan that make men cry, especially when that one wiry furred old terrier who looks like the canine version of Robert Redford flashes on the screen.

if you are Cold War Russia (or rather the USSR), you have banned Sarah McLachlan and the ASPCA for their short-sighted propaganda that just encourages OTHER people who love dogs to adopt these dogs and let them make more dogs and, well, you see where this is going and it doesn't end well.

if you are Cold War Russia (i'm right yes? the USSR?) you approach things differently. you take the best and brightest from your fleet of overpopulated pups--or so you tell us--and you launch them into space, paving the way for Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard and The Muppets. It's sad, the Dogs In Space thing. The Ms. Bakers. I don't even think pets on airplanes is humane most of the time.

the thing about it is, if you don't go see Laika Dog In Space, well, then you just hate dogs.
it's true. i know because i SAW Laika Dog In Space tonight, and i DON'T hate dogs.
i dragged my bike through the snow and the muck and you know what? i even got fed. yep. those friggin' New York Neo-Futurists laddled me a up a hot cup of borscht for my trouble and fellowship. damn.
the last time i went to The Goodman, they wouldn't even let me take my apple into the house after intermission. but then, The Goodman hates dogs. (true story).

i know there's still snow all up over the place and the Super Bowl commercials are leaking onto the internet but Laika Dog In Space is more specialer. and it doesn't happen every year.
do it for the dogs. especially the pouty-eyed Robert Redford looking one.

World Premiere Preview (February 4-6, 2011)

2011-02-04T12:40:00.002-06:00

For those of you who keep track of such things, the groundhog yet again saw its shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. He did not offer any predictions for how much more snow Chicago would receive, but perhaps that's best for all concerned.

Forgoing our regular Tuesday night rehearsal out of concern for life and limb, Eliza, Mary, Bilal, Ryan, and Greg met Wednesday morning as best we could...poor Greg, his car swallowed by the [insert clever pun for snowstorm], had to rehearse with us over the phone. Despite our limitations, however, we still manage to bring you six new plays:

Vegetation (Eliza Burmester)
Sci-fi Recollection Theater Presents: Han Solo and the Taun Taun! (Ryan Walters)
Bread Bag Arms (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Remembrance of Things Past (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Severe Whether (Bilal Dardai)
(discontinue use if motifs recur) (Bilal Dardai)

And two plays back for a longer run than they originally received:

Planning for the Futurist (Greg Allen)
The Neo-Futurist Photo Re-Enactment Corps Presents... (Greg Allen)

Extra-special thanks to all of you who dig yourselves out of your homes this weekend to check out the new TML menu or the exciting opening weekend of LAIKA DOG IN SPACE!

Report from Ice Station Neo.

2011-02-02T09:39:00.002-06:00

After hours of gritty determination to tough it out, the Neos involved in Too Much Light made the decision, grudgingly, to postpone their regular Tuesday night rehearsal and move it to today. The cast and crew of Laika Dog in Space came in to work their show anyway and many of them are still here this morning.

Stay tuned.

Former Neos, Rhinos, and Phantom Limb Syndrome.

2011-02-01T18:32:00.003-06:00

Come see Neo-alumni Chloe Johnston and me, Rachel Claff, in a brand spanking-new show by the Laboratory for the Development of Substitute Materials (LDSM) at the Rhino Fest!

MIRROR CITY: A PHANTOM EXPERIMENT is a confusion of medical case study, living room slideshow, and amateur variety hour. Like the LDSM’s Theoretical Isolation: A Post-Atomic Experiment, which dealt simultaneously with physics, Shakespeare, and architecture, Mirror City conflates the city with the body, suggesting courses of treatment for three divergent case histories, each of whom present with personal sites of loss in the city of Chicago. The LDSM holds its odd theatrical mirror up to these anonymous subjects in order to sort out how it can still ache in places that no longer exist. With Seth Bockley, Rachel Claff, Jessica Hudson, Chloe Johnston, Ira Murfin, and Angela Tillges.

February 4, 5, and 6 at 7:00pm, $15
at the Prop Theater, 3502 N. Elston Avenue

Get more info and buy tickets at http://rhinofest.com/shows/Mirror_City.php.

Carmen and a conversation about LADI

2011-02-01T15:36:00.006-06:00

Hello. I'm Carmen, the Neo-Futurists Development Intern. Sitting behind me in the Neo-Futurists office, on top of a Laika Dog in Space postcard, is my friend Laika.

Laika is a dog, a dog in spaaaace. We are working together on LADI -- Laika Audience Development Initiative. With LADI we discussed our plan to market the new flex-passes. Laika told me that a flex-pass is a punchcard that I can buy for thirty bucks to see three shows whenever I want. Wait, a minute, I thought. Don’t I have to pay nine dollars and roll a dice everytime I come to see TML? Laika barked and said, “No Carmen. If you buy a flex-pass, you don’t risk paying fifteen dollars every time you want to see a show. You can see any non-benefit show including my show Laika Dog in Space. Woof!”

I said, "That is awesome! I'm a college student and knowing that I have the freedom to see three shows whenever I want is amazing! Good girl, Laika!" Looks like LADI is ready to launch.

Check out the punchcards online here.

Metropolitan Brewing on Cover of New City

2011-02-01T13:52:00.005-06:00

I saw on the cover of this past week's New City paper that our friends Doug and Tracy Hurst are featured on the cover! Open that paper up, and you'll find a full page spread of the inner workings of Metropolitan.

You can see the whole article on the internet here at Booze Muse. And, more importantly, buy their beer!

"Love Poem" Official Selection at 2010 ZEBRA International Poetry Film Festival! In Berlin!

2011-01-29T13:52:00.000-06:00

Holy sweet potato!

Remember that film Neo-Futurist Mary Fons and her band of fierce filmmakers shot at the Neo-Futurarium back in the spring? Remember how Mary didn't think the film got into the festival but still loved making the film and featuring TML audience members?

(Remember? This?)

Well guess what?! We were selected!

"Love Poem" is/was an official selection in the CARDIAC ARREST program of the 5th Annual 2010 ZEBRA International Poetry Film Fest, which takes place in Berlin. What's weird and slightly troubling is that we didn't know we got in until yesterday. We didn't get a letter or an email, which doesn't mean they didn't send anything, just that we either missed it or it was spammed or someone intercepted the notice letter from Berlin thinking that it was still WWII and we were somehow dangerous.

But isn't that awesome?? We've contacted the ZEBRA folk to figure out wha happa, but we don't even care. There were over 900 entries, son!

Bam!

Thanks to the Neos and the TML audience for helping make it all possible.

Love,

Mary

Actors

2011-01-28T11:42:00.003-06:00

In an effort to figure out why I liked the black swan movie, but didn't necessarily think Natalie Portman did a great job performing/portraying/acting the role she played, I happened across this total weirdness: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html

I find these videos fascinating and horrifying all at the same time. My favorite part of them, I think, are the acting failures mixed in with the acting successes. Like Natalie Portman doing a good job of keeping it simple, deliberate, and tense, up to the point where she breathes for no apparent reason other than to show she is "just so sick of it." And the guy on the treadmill, who stays good and focused, until the treadmill starts really going, and then all I can think about is how he is on a treadmill, looking at absolutely nothing chasing him. And then Matt Damon, being weird, and really, really, really generic. Right? I don't know. I can't tell.

I'm pretty sure James Franco does the best one. Mostly 'cuz it's not so serious. Maybe Tilda Swinton too, because she is, actually, so cool.

What do you think?

World Premiere Preview (January 21-30, 2011)

2011-01-28T09:04:00.002-06:00

I'm going to pretend that I was experimenting with a bi-weekly format for the World Premiere Preview before realizing that a bi-weekly format completely defeated the purpose. Then I'm going to pretend that I did this for YOU THE READERS, giving you a SUPER-SPECIAL DOUBLE-SIZED DIGEST.

You, for your part, may pretend that you believe any of that bullshit.

Last week's show saw six world premieres, written and performed by a cast named Ryan, Rob, Eliza, Kurt, Mary, and Caitlin. Those plays were called:

Current trends (Eliza Burmester)
A short song on Forced Perspectivism (Rob Neill)
Fog & Smoke (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Me Will play the Black Swan, and Me Will win all the Golden Globes and Oscars, and Me Will be directed by that guy with the moustache (Me Will also be pregnant) (Kurt Chiang)
There Are No Atheists In The Chicago Winter (Ryan Walters)
Positive Reinforcement (Ryan Walters)

This week's show shuffles the cast a bit, but still produces six brand-new plays. Mary, Kurt, Eliza, Bilal and Ryan present:

What I Learned I Could Do In The Shower The Morning of January 21, 2011 (Ryan Walters)
Couples Skate (Eliza Burmester)
Line Drawing No. 31: An Artistic Community Service (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Someone In This Play Gets a Name (Kurt Chiang)
The United State of Insomnia (Bilal Dardai)
The Man in the Chair on Stage Right is the Man from the Chair on Stage Right (Bilal Dardai)

Now I'm going to pretend that I'll never forget to post the weekly premiere post on time ever again.

World Premiere Preview (January 14-16, 2011)

2011-01-14T09:54:00.002-06:00

For the record, the six plays that premiere this week are all Capricorns no matter whether you are using the tropical or the sidereal zodiac.

Today's horoscope for Capricorn is:

You can afford to be more indulgent today. Things are not really going well for you, and if folks at work or at home slip up and leave some work undone, it's not the end of the world. Show them you care, though!

So Ryan, Kurt, Caitlin, Rob, Eliza, and Mary are going to do their best to finish these plays, and the rest of the ones on the line, in 60 minutes or less. But if they don't, remember: it's not the end of the world.

TEAM THUNDER (Eliza Burmester)
milky alternatives (Caitlin Stainken)
Attila the Honey (Mary Fons-Misetic)
CATCH IT IN A BAG! (Kurt Chiang)
A Sounding Presentation (For You With Beats) (Rob Neill)
Clink II: Specifically Applicable or Welcome to Beerzislowvia (Rob Neill)

There's also a returning play...

On the desire to be a kung fu master (Ryan Walters)

...which, as it was born in early December, is either a Sagittarius or an Ophiucus.

Hopefully all of the plays can get along.

!Viva la neo-futurists!

2011-01-10T20:50:00.000-06:00

!Viva la neo-futurists!

World Premiere Preview (January 7-9, 2011)

2011-01-06T21:10:00.003-06:00

Welcome back to the program, gentle viewers. This week we return to our usual paradigm of bringing you never-before-seen entertainments and foolhardy flimflammery, mixed in with a regular hootenanny of shenanigans!

We last rolled the dice back at the end of November...but who can remember that far back. Instead, the cast came up with the impossible complement of 13 new plays for you to feast your ocular organs upon!

And what a cast it is! Kurt, Greg, Mary, Caitlin, and visiting New York Neo-Futurist Rob Neill (soon to be seen in our next primetime show, a transfer of the NY Neos' Laika Dog in Space) hit the stage this weekend, along with the following plays:

The Past Three Months of My Life, In Analog (Dot, Dad, Car, Cat, Work, Death) (Kurt Chiang)
Planning for the Futurist (Greg Allen)
The Neo-Futurist Photo Re-enactment Corps Presents... (Greg Allen)
Neo-Futurist Existentialist Crisis Cheer Squad (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Say "Bal-a-NEEZ" (Mary Fons-Misetic)
[Apple] or: it just doesn't feel as good as I thought it would. (Mary Fons-Misetic) [1]
Music sharing time (Caitlin Stainken)
Empathy strikes again (Caitlin Stainken)
Next tuesday November 23 (Caitlin Stainken)
Tonight the buttering interrupt - as if from the middle to somewhere slightly closer to the end (Rob Neill)
Where's your head at? (a triadichydrology) (Rob Neill)
Clink: For One Brief, what he observed on a night only later filled with flashes of harmony (Rob Neill)
This is not my dream play, my dream play is ______! (Rob Neill)

[1] The [Apple] in this play is actually one of these.

Schadenfreude and The Neo-Futurists

2011-01-06T19:34:00.003-06:00

Hey Look! Greg Allen and John Pierson "acting."
Link to 53rd Ward: Episode 3

REMINDER: TML Tonight and Tomorrow

2011-01-01T13:57:00.003-06:00

Just a reminder that there is, indeed, performances of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind tonight (1/1/11!!!) at 11:30pm and tomorrow (1/2/11.) at 7pm

The second date only gets a period because by then 2011 will be old news. Good thing you have neofuturism too keep you fresh and healthy.

See you tonight and/or tomorrow.

New Year's Eve Show, somewhat preview December 31st, Jan 1 and 2

2010-12-30T12:45:00.003-06:00

(Random google search "new year peacock" gives you the above image.)

We took a break, and now we are back, so quickly.

We'd like to remind you of the upcoming special New Year's Show, happening tomorrow, Friday December 31st. We open the doors at 9:30pm. You eat. We begin the show promptly at 11pm. We complete all 30 plays (hopefully) at midnight, January 1st, 2011. WE CELEBRATE TIME, together.

For this menu, we treated it as a gig of sorts, which means we bring back favorite plays of ours. So this is a kind of grab bag of recent stuff and other gems you may have forgotten about. So when you see something you recognize, you can get all nostalgic and weepy, which is what New Year's is all about. Don't worry, we'll be writing new next week, just let us hold on to these, just a little longer.

I'm not going to preview every play, but I will mention two from each Neo, just because I know you need your fix. Eliza, Kurt, John, Caitlin, and Greg are performing (and Luke doing tech, although he is actually going to be performing a good amount, I just noticed):

- Good Fourth Wall (Eliza)

- America vs. The World (Eliza)

- Wallflower (Kurt)

- JULIE MAGLOSKY IS A PSYCHO WHORE (Kurt)

- Dance On My Grave (John)

- Poultrygeist (John)

- Don't worry, this play will be short (Caitlin)

- What if? (Caitlin)

- Tool (Greg)

- Revolution, Resolution, and a Jar of Mayonnaise (Greg)

Note: We'll also be performing this Saturday and Sunday at the regular times, so come then, too.

Other note: This is the last weekend you can see John Pierson perform in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, because he's turning into a ruby slipper after the Sunday show. Don't worry, it won't hurt (much).

Bye y'all.

World Premiere Review (December 17-19, 2010)

2010-12-17T00:27:00.002-06:00

Anniversary, week 2: our final weekend of the regular show for the year 2010, featuring another menu of our best plays of the year!

(This is not, however, your last chance to see TML in 2010. We will be performing, as in years past, our down-to-the-wire New Year's Eve show here in Chicago...and five of us will also be performing a menu for First Night Pittsburgh!)

This week the cast is smaller, which just means you get to see more of them throughout the hour. This week's batch of 30 plays include some from last week and others returning for the first time in months. Jay, Jessica, Tim, Ryan, Greg, Kurt, Megan, Lisa, and John present, in the order they appear in the menu:

Health Conscious (Tim Reid)
metaphorplay (Megan Mercier)
Sheer Chaos (Jessica Anne)
Dog (in five acts) (John Pierson)
Celebrity announcements interrupted by gay cousin at a wedding (Jay Torrence)
Law and Order (Lisa Buscani)
Sitting on a Rainbow (Jessica Anne)
On the desire to be a kung-fu master (Ryan Walters)
Rip Van Wrinkle (Greg Allen)
omar (Megan Mercier)
Sphincter In The Anus Of Time (John Pierson)
Our hearts Beat Bieber Bieber (Tim Reid)
Long Day Plowing the Field (Jessica Anne)
World Cup 2010 (Abridged) (Jay Torrence)
I AM CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS (Ryan Walters)
I will marry a boy (Jay Torrence)
Vehicle and Animal (Ryan Walters)
What we remember. (Kurt Chiang)
Really Easy Rorschach Test (Tim Reid)
Nightmares of Broken Etiquette (Kurt Chiang)
well, i went to my first baby shower... (Megan Mercier)
Three Ships (Greg Allen)
state of the union (Megan Mercier)
The Dreams of Father's Grimm (John Pierson)
Asocial butterfly (Tim Reid)
Application of a Corsage (Kurt Chiang)
Three Year Old Interview (Greg Allen)
Check, Please: Sugar Boogers (Tim Reid)
Real Neo Nightmare Realism (John Pierson)
Gimpalicious (Lisa Buscani)

Happy holidays, all! Hope to see you this weekend, but otherwise, we'll be back next year, starting the ritual anew.

Secret Santa

2010-12-15T13:58:00.002-06:00

We have a holiday tradition at The Neo-Futurists, involving several days of stealthy secret santa gifts. Today I found this gift poised near my keyboard, and absolutely love this glamorous pig. Thank you, Secret Santa!

ATTENTION: Did we paint you on our stage this year?

2010-12-10T11:18:00.002-06:00

Earlier this year, we painted 18 individual people, one show at time, over the course of six weeks. And when we say "painted people," we don't mean the representations of people on a canvas. We mean that 18 actual living audience members volunteered themselves to our stage to have their clothes painted. They wore the clothes that they had on that night. They did not know this was going to happen before they got to the theater. They were fully aware that this was going to happen when we told them we would do it, right then, at the moment, and not one of them backed out (even thought they could have). These people are awesome and courageous theater-goers.

We're revamping this play for the "anniversary weeks" (see earlier post below). And we'd like to give a special thank-you ticket offer to these people that were painted in this play. So if you have any recollection of being painted on the Neo-Futurist stage this year, and we can't imagine that you would forget, please email Kurt at neochiangkurt@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Wondering what all this is about? Come to the show and find out. It's that simple.

World Premiere Review (December 10-12, 2010)

2010-12-08T22:15:00.003-06:00

Big week for us Neos...besides the previously mentioned Big Show out at Elgin Community College (and a couple of workshops), we're also doing a private party for the fine folks at GrubHub and teaching the second of two classes at Victory Gardens Theatre.

Oh, and, it's the first of our two anniversary weeks! Starting this Friday and continuing for the next two weekends, catch a luxury-sized cast of Neo-Futurists doing their 30 favorite plays from the past year (hopefully in 60 minutes or less), in celebration of our 22nd consecutive year of performing this show about the baby and how much light it takes to damage their eyes.

Lisa, Tim, Bilal, John, Eliza, Jessica, Ryan, Megan, Greg, Caitlin, Jay, Kurt, and Mary this week present the following menu:

The Big Aristotle (Tim Reid)
No Restaurant I've Ever Been To (Tim Reid)
applejacked (Bilal Dardai)
To Boldly Stay Right Here in the Theater (Bilal Dardai)
Zorba the Greg (Bilal Dardai)
Steps of the Courthouse (Jessica Anne)
Sitting on a Rainbow (Jessica Anne)
On the desire to be a kung-fu master (Ryan Walters)
Vehicle and Animal (Ryan Walters)
A one breath poem (Caitlin Stainken)
Oh, to be a kid again (Caitlin Stainken)
Wow Bao Beauty (Caitlin Stainken)
I will marry a boy (Jay Torrence)
World Cup 2010 (abridged) (Jay Torrence)
We Gave You Back Your Money, Now Give Us Back Our Paint (Kurt Chiang)
iHate: A Play With Novelty Staging (Kurt Chiang)
A Friendly Reminder From Dem Pank Tape Bitchez (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Profane Profound (Mary Fons-Misetic)
From Here, You Can See the Hole World (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Regrets (Greg Allen)
Rip Van Wrinkle (Greg Allen)
metaphorplay (Megan Mercier)
girls riding dads (Megan Mercier)
well, i went to my first baby shower... (Megan Mercier)
Heat (Eliza Burmester)
Untitled #1 (Eliza Burmester)
Connection (John Pierson)
Dog (in five acts) (John Pierson)
Law & Order (Lisa Buscani)
Gimp-a-licious (Lisa Buscani)

It's a small theater with a big cast and an even larger show, which will either be incredible or a chaotic nightmare. Either way, you should come.

Performing at Elgin Community College

2010-12-06T10:55:00.002-06:00

A few of us are going to perform at the Elgin Community College Arts Center this Saturday at 7:30pm. Please come see us if you are in the area.

The marketing team there asked us to write a play specifically for their blog, to try and prepare people for what we do. I took up the task, and here it is, a world premiere, ready to be conceptually performed within your intellect.

p.s. - the picture is that of a boat casino in Elgin. You see, things that are usually illegal on land, are legal on water. So if you are looking to do something illegal, like tattoo yourself before you are 18, just do it on a canoe in the river or something. (ok, maybe don't do that. maybe you can, like, not pay your taxes while on a canoe in a river. maybe?)

end.

World Premiere Preview, (December 3-5, 2010)

2010-12-03T01:41:00.002-06:00

We arrive again at the last week of new work for the year, after a busy, busy fall and a busy, busy summer and a busy, busy you get the picture. This year we hit the milestone of our 7,000th play and then kept right on going. Our total for the entirety of our existence now has reached 7,413 original short plays.

The last ten plays of 2010 were written and will be performed by Genevra, Kurt, Bilal, John, Lisa, Tim, and Ryan. They are:

The House Always Wins But The Office Never Loses (Bilal Dardai)
Mine (Lisa Buscani)
A Mime Reads from Right to Left (Tim Reid)
On the desire to be a kung-fu master (Ryan Walters)
DOG (In Five Acts) (John Pierson)
Neo-Futurist Fan Dance (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)
writer's block or empty craving or possibly just a metaphorical distillation of those really shitty days we all have (and oh yeah...fuck you) (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)
You Oughta Know (Kurt Chiang)
Brain Play #1: The Winter in Chicago (Kurt Chiang)
Why We Would Leave The Theater, and How We Ultimately Did Leave the Theater (Kurt Chiang)

Raise your hand if you thought we'd still be here after 22 years. Be honest. (We've been.)

Winter Workhops are here... along with brand new Neo-Intensives!

2010-12-01T12:13:00.005-06:00

You like it.
We teach it.
And now we have even more ways you can come and do it.

Not only do we have winter workshops scheduled for the 2011 winter months, we are also unveiling a new kind of class: the Neo-Intensive. So whether you want to join us for an 8-week class or something a bit shorter - we've got multiple options from now through January. And you can even take every single one if you're so inclined!

January Workshop: Intro to Too Much Light: Writing and Performing the 2-Minute Play
January Intensive: Metaphorical Objects and Multiplicity of Meaning
February Intensive: The Reward of Risk (Go Big or Go Home)
March Workshop: Un-Reproducible Performance: Creating Theatre without a Safety Net
March Intensive: Neo-Futurist Flash Mob Project!

All the info is below, or you can also go directly to the classes area of our website to learn more and register online!

2011 WINTER WORKSHOPS

Intro To Too Much Light: Writing and Performing the 2-minute Play
Wednesdays, 7-10pm
January 12 - March 2
Taught by Bilal Dardai and Mary Fons-Misetic
Cost: $250

Ever wonder how Neo-Futurists create plays for Too Much Light? This workshop will explore the process and tools needed to create a 2-minute play in the Too Much Light style. We will examine specific play formulas and styles that recur on our stage. Students will write from their own life experiences and then examine staging techniques that will equip their scripts with mind-blowing, low-budget, renegade-theatrics. This class will mimic the actual weekly process of the show Too Much Light, focusing on our techniques for generating ideas and showing you how to write, stage and perform your own scripts. The class culminates in a student-written performance of 20 plays in 40 minutes in our theater - with a live audience and everything! No experience necessary. (Class size limited to 16.)

Un-Reproducible Performance: Creating Theatre without a Safety Net
Saturdays, 2-5pm
March 5 - April 23
Taught by Genevra Gallo-Bayiates and Rachel Claff
Cost: $250

A Neo-Futurist approach to creating theatre that cannot be repeated! You've seen us do it all the time in TMLMTBGB and our prime-time season shows… and it’s one of the core tenets of Neo-Futurism that makes what we do so unique and challenging. This class emphasizes writing and performance, incorporating Neo-Futurist approaches to ensure that plays cannot be performed exactly the same way twice. We'll tackle interviews, improvisation, site-specific performance, audience interaction, and much more. We'll challenge you to expand your comfort zone as you explore risk-taking and creative spontaneity in order to surprise, scare, and push yourself as a writer and performer. All ages/abilities welcome. (Class size limited to 16.)

**All New**

2011 WINTER NEO-INTENSIVES

Metaphorical Objects and Multiplicity of Meaning
Saturday, January 22 from 2-5pm
Taught by Bilal Dardai and Genevra Gallo-Bayiates
Cost: $55

Learn the Neo-Futurist art of task-making and visual metaphor. Explore the use of objects in an unexpected way to create multiple layers of meaning in your writing and storytelling. Perfect for students wanting to broaden their understanding of Neo-Futurist approaches to autobiographical performance - or those wishing to get a taste of the Neo-Futurist aesthetic before taking on an 8-week workshop. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 16.)

The Reward of Risk (Go Big or Go Home)
Saturday, February 22 from 2-5pm
Taught by Kurt Chiang and Genevra Gallo-Bayiates
Cost: $55

The Neo-Futurists are all about risk on stage: emotional, physical, personal, intellectual. Explore the basics of writing and performing in a way that pushes you out of your comfort zone. A great workshop for writer/performers feeling bored with their work or creatively stuck. Excellent introduction to our longer workshop “Un-Reproducible Performance: Creating Theatre without a Safety Net.” Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 16.)

Neo-Futurist Flash Mob Project!
Wednesday, March 16 & 23 from 7-10pm
Taught by Neo-Futurist Ensemble Members
Cost: $125

A brand new event happening four times per year. Come brainstorm, create, and rehearse a Neo-Futurist performance we will take out into the world at large. Students will co-create a flash-mob style event on the first night under the direction of a Neo-Futurist ensemble member to be performed in a public space. The second night – we’ll go out and perform, then meet back at the space to celebrate, discuss and swap stories. Registration fee includes one Neo-Futurist t-shirt. Open to all ages and experience levels. (Class size limited to 40.)

World Premiere Digest, (November 19-28, 2010)

2010-11-27T08:24:00.002-06:00

This is far, far too late to be a preview: since the last such entry to this blog we've had 19 plays cycle into the show and two of them only lasted a single week. This week's new plays all premiered last night, so I can't even preview those for you.

Instead, this entry is a "digest" entry, which is appropriate on Thanksgiving weekend for obvious reasons. In the past two weeks, the following plays have occurred for the first time within the context of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, written and performed by Eliza, John, Bilal, Mary, Ryan, Tim, and returning alumnus Lisa Buscani:

good bye (Eliza Burmester)
"English is a living language." (Bilal Dardai)
Prelude to an Interlude (Bilal Dardai)
This Play Reserved For Any Unexpected Marriage Proposals (Ryan Walters)
Found Text: How To Be __________. (Ryan Walters)
Deja Dardai (John Pierson)
OUT TO SEE (John Pierson)
Thanks Giving Etiquette for the Not Quite Right (John Pierson)
Gimp-a-licious (Lisa Buscani)
The Immovable Feast (Lisa Buscani)
Law and Order (Lisa Buscani)
The World's Most Poorly Attended Slumber Party (Tim Reid)
Ceci n'est pas un piece (Tim Reid)
TSA PDAs (Tim Reid)
Eight Thanksgivings Exactly (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Super Sparkly 2 x 4 (Mary Fons-Misetic)
From Here, You Can See the Hole World (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Shall We Retire To The State Park For Cognac & Cigars? (Mary Fons-Misetic)
Profane Profound (Mary Fons-Misetic)

If you're not still comatose from turkey and football and marauding through the malls, come check out what the menu looks like at our buffet.

Tim With Cape

2010-11-20T00:53:00.000-06:00

World Premiere Preview (November 12-14, 2010)

2010-11-12T14:07:00.002-06:00

The cast blissfully rolled a mere 3 this past week after nearly a month of 9's and 10's. They still put 4 new plays in the menu. Eliza, Mary, Genevra, John, Tim, Caitlin, and Ryan will not be held down.

This week I decided to have fun with Google Image search. Below each World Premiere Title is the first image that popped up when I typed that title into the search field.

A Father's Grimm play for Mother (born 11/7/1930) (John Pierson)
Dear All My New Friend In Congress (Tim Reid)
I Am Contest of Champions (Ryan Walters)
Vehicle & Animal (Ryan Walters)

We make no promises that any of the above images will appear in the above plays.

World Premiere Preview (November 5-7, 2010)

2010-11-05T00:15:00.002-05:00

The blog post began with a sentence written in the past tense. It transitioned into a handful of introductory sentences that either expressed an opinion about a topic of importance to the theatre company or announced an event in which members of the theatre company were participating. It then moved to the matter of the standard subject, which was the weekly performances of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind.

There was a single sentence that had its own paragraph, for dramatic effect.

The blog post listed, in no particular order, the cast members who had written and would be performing new material in the aforementioned show. The names were Eliza, Tim, Mary, John, Genevra, and Caitlin. There was a sentence that noted the number of new plays this week, in this case eight. Immediately beneath this paragraph was a bullet-pointed list of all plays that had been added to the menu for that week, beginning with all world-premiere plays and, if necessary, a separate list of plays that had been reprised from a previous run. The order of the plays was determined by listing titles for those authors with one new play apiece, followed by listing titles for authors with two or more new plays apiece. The bullet list was cued by a sentence that ended with a colon:

It's not what she says, but how she says it (Tim Reid)
Awww She's such a good girl (Eliza Burmester)
Brag! (Mary Fons-Misetic)
The Six Elements of the Human Body: Homage to the Science Nerds We Were (Mary Fons-Misetic)
I could just fall over (Caitlin Stainken)
Exquisite corpse play (Caitlin Stainken)
Sort of like this. A play pretty much for one person. (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)
Spray Bottle Theatre Presents: Dueling Shakespearian Monologue Face Off! This Week...Kate the Shrew vs. Phebe the Shepherdess (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)

There was another sentence before the separate list of reprised plays that also ended with a colon:

I Can (John Pierson)

There was an imperative sentence, written to the reader in the second person, that restated the value of viewing the new work listed above and attempted to convince the reader that he or she should attend the performance this weekend.

There was a wry observation that the strategy was ineffective.

There was a closing sentence written in the past tense.

Here, there, and everywhere.

2010-10-29T14:17:00.004-05:00

This year, longtime fans may have noticed that our prime-time season has a significant gap between the end of Daredevils Hamlet and January's NY Neo-Futurist import of Laika Dog in Space. Among the reasons we had for such a lengthy break in the season was that we thought it would be great for the ensemble and staff to ease up a little bit from the usual flurry of activity that goes on in our space.

Which is not to say we're not busy. Besides the regular home show, we will also be performing a series of TML gigs at various venues, including The Forest Park Arts Center, Illinois State University, Elgin Community College, the Midwest Furfest, and a New Year's Eve jaunt to Pittsburgh.

Our TML menus are one sheet long and usually pretty content-heavy as is, so we don't have room to do that "Ensemble Update" section you'll find in the programs of theaters like Steppenwolf, which will say things like:

"Amy Morton is directing Large Regional Theater's revival of Classic American Drama You Forgot Was Awesome."

Here's what else some of our Neo-Futurist family is up to...

Greg Allen has remounted his acclaimed production K., an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial, for the Hypocrites (featuring actors Brennan Buhl, Sean Patrick Fawcett, Clifton Frei, and Dan Granata, who have appeared with us before in Crisis: A Musical Game Show, Strange Interlude, and Daredevils Hamlet). Now through November 28.

Dave Awl, in his own words is..."chained to my desk feverishly working on the revised and expanded second edition of my book Facebook Me!, which will hopefully be out in time for holiday book shopping ... and in general I can't recommend the combination of chains and fever as a way to pass the time pleasantly."

Andy Bayiates will be performing at Essay Fiesta on November 3rd and with 2nd Story on December 12 and 13.

Lisa Buscani dons the habit for Late Nite Catechism on November 6, 13, and 20; and performs at The Paper Machete on November 27. She is also contributing to an original Neo-Futurist performance at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Inaugural Induction on November 20.

Kurt Chiang is also performing at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame on November 20.

Rachel Claff is performing in two one-night only encores of previously sold-out shows. On November 11, she brings back the riotously funny staged reading of My Little Pony: The Movie that closed this past summer's It Came From The Neo-Futurarium!, as a benefit for the West Byron Association. On November 13, she travels to Mineral Point, Wisconsin for a reprise of BoyGirlBoyGirl's acclaimed show The Flesh Market.

Stephen Colbert is not doing much of anything these days, the bum.

Bilal Dardai is premiering two new plays; the ten-minute play The Short Straw for LiveWire Chicago Theatre's VisionFest 3 and the darkly comic Christmas tale Redeemers for New Leaf Theatre. He is also appearing onstage in Backstage Theatre Company's production of Memory. The Short Straw opens November 4, Memory opens on November 13, and Redeemers opens on November 16.

Joe Dempsey will be at the Cincinnati Playhouse performing with The Second City from November 6 - December 23.

Mary Fons-Misetic is performing at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame on November 20.

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates will be performing in the remount of My Little Pony: The Movie on November 11.

Ayun Halliday's new low budget, highly participatory, illustrated, anecdotal guidebook, The Zinester's Guide to NYC, will be released on November 15. Customers who pre-order from the publisher also receive a back issue of Ayun's much-beloved East Village Inky.

Chloe Johnston is performing at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame on November 20.

David Kodeski will be performing BoyGirlBoyGirl's The Flesh Market in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on November 13.

Noelle Krimm will be performing in the remount of My Little Pony: The Movie on November 11.

Megan Mercier will be returning as Baby Lickety-Split in the remount of My Little Pony: The Movie on November 11.

Jonathan Mastro has written and performed music for Horrorgasm, a set of brand-new radio plays with an old-timey style and a flair for modern horror.

John Pierson, slowly recovering from the changes he inflicted on his body during Daredevils Hamlet, will be reprising his role as The Smooze in the remount of My Little Pony: The Movie on November 11, and also remounting his own directorial effort Targets for one night only in the Neo-Futurarium on November 18. He is also working on finishing his new novel.

Phil Ridarelli will appear on the police drama Detroit 187 and will also be shooting some scenes for Steven Soderbergh's new film Contagion later this November.

Heather Riordan, last seen onstage in the role of Gertrude in Daredevils Hamlet, will be performing in the remount of My Little Pony: The Movie on November 11. She is taking over the role of the wicked witch Hydia from Kristie Koehler Vuocolo, who is currently working on the production of her first child.

Stephanie Shaw will be performing at The Encyclopedia Show on November 3rd and The Dialogues at Links Hall on November 8. She will also be a part of BoyGirlBoyGirl's remount of The Flesh Market in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on November 13.

Diana Slickman will be performing BoyGirlBoyGirl's The Flesh Market in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on November 13.

Dina Walters is back for My Little Pony: The Movie on November 11, and will also be performing for Stories at the Store on November 18 and at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame on November 20.

Ryan Walters is performing at the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame on November 20.

And if you're in New York, you have until November 6 to catch the NY Neos' brand-new show (un)afraid.

So take heart, gentle reader. You're not going insane. Neo-Futurists really are everywhere around you right now.

World Premiere Preview (October 29-31, 2010)

2010-10-29T09:19:00.002-05:00

Going to keep this short, because later today I'm going to be posting a comprehensive calendar of events for the rest of the year, involving Neo-Futurists in at least three states.

John, Tim, Eliza, Caitlin, and Genevra reached deep into their brains and unearthed nine world-premiere plays for this Halloween weekend:

he swore he'd never see this (Caitlin Stainken)
America vs. The World (Eliza Burmester)
Lizzie Borden (Eliza Burmester)
Ridiculitis (John Pierson)
Real Neo Nightmare Realism (John Pierson)
Neo Iso Diet Coke with Lime (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)
Why I won't be buying any Halloween candy this year... (or: An Attempt to Change a Multi-Generational Lifetime of Bad Eating Habits One Small Choice at a Time) (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)
Is that a rhetorical question? (Tim Reid)
On Halloween All the Other Holiday Mascots Dress Up as Minorities (Tim Reid)

Stay tuned! And starting today, come by our Hall of Presidents and visit its new addition: "Magnetic Personality" by Jen Ellison & Dave Stinton!

Guess What I'm Not Going To Go See Tonight?

2010-10-28T12:01:00.003-05:00

Please for you to join us at the Obama-Portrait Benefit this evening.

Hoo.

Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop II: Collaborative Creation begins soon!!

2010-10-26T10:10:00.003-05:00

Oh yes... it's that time again. The next Neo-Workshop is about to begin and you can register online now! The class starts November 3, and space is limited... so if you're interested in signing up, be sure to do so soon.

Here are the details:

Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop II: Collaborative Creation
Taught by Founding Director Greg Allen and Neo-Futurist alum Chloe Johnston

Wednesdays, 7-10pm
November 3 - December 22

This is a great opportunity for new and returning students to learn collaborative Neo-Futurist techniques to write, direct, and perform their own original work. Using the Neo-Futurist aesthetic of being yourself on stage with an interactive audience, participants will focus on creating ensemble performances in pairs or small groups. We will explore such models as adaptation of known text, movement to music, The Interview (both as research and performance), The Silent Partner, choral staging, The Line Play, and audience participation. Over the years we have found many Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop participants have gone on to create work together and this is a new class with Founder Greg Allen to advance that preparation. First-time students and returning students are welcome!

- All classes are $250.
- All classes will meet at the Neo-Futurarium (5153 N. Ashland Ave. Chicago, IL 60640)
- Class size is limited to 15 on a first-come, first-serve registration.

To register either:

1. Email Neoclasses@gmail.com to express your interest. Then send a non-refundable registration check for half of the amount ($125) made out to "The Neo-Futurists" to The Neo-Futurarium at 5153 North Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL, 60640.

or...

2. Register and pay online to reserve your spot. (Full payment is due at the first class.)

World Premiere Preview (October 22-24, 2010)

2010-10-22T18:19:00.004-05:00

Before we discuss the nine new plays that the TML cast produced this week, we wanted to remind you that this is your last weekend to come vote for your favorite Obama portrait before we announce the winner at the Neo-Obama Portrait O-Rama, this Thursday the 28th.

Before the new kid ends up enshrined in the Hall, I asked members of our ensemble, staff, and board to tell us which of the current portraits is their favorite, and why.

"My favorite is of Eisenhower. I often have a reaction to people I meet, especially ones with fame, where their heads become magnified and grotesque. I get this same reaction any time I see a president speak. The portrait of Eisenhower is a perfect example of what I experience. I think I see the world through German Expressionism." --John Pierson, Ensemble

"I love the portrait of Reagan. It's a beautiful painting on wood letting the natural woodgrain show through. The interpretation is subtle but if you look he's playing slight-of-hand with the world. And the titling of 'This land is your land, This land is my land' turns the Woody Guthrie lyrics on their head to expose the underbelly of one of our most insidiously evil presidents ever." --Greg Allen, Ensemble

"My favorite has always been the Polk. I love the Dia de los Muertos ofrenda vibe because I am a sucker for Mexican/Catholic folk art." --Amy Carlton, Board Member

"Harry Truman, because he has a big head." --Steve Peterson, Board President

"I'm partial to Grover Cleveland [2nd Term]. I love that he's wearing a TMLMTBGB shirt... I can totally see him sitting in our audience, slightly belligerent from drinking too much before the show, and making loud smacking noises while he chomps down M&Ms and Starbursts. Cleveland would totally dig our show." --Genevra Gallo-Bayiates, Ensemble

"I really like Nixon, because his portrait has such a cartoonish quality...he was a degenerate, but it seems like something primal and beastly, something he couldn't have helped. I particularly enjoy the fact that he has five aces in his pocket...it's a perfect metaphor for Watergate and his belief that he was untouchable. A smart card cheat hides one ace on his person, or hides all four in various places. It takes real chutzpah to keep an impossible poker hand in your pocket." --Bilal Dardai, Ensemble

"'Ulysses S. Grant,' by Erich Wilhelm Zander. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite and possibly even harder for me to say WHY I like it more...I guess it’s because of the simplicity and elegance. I mean... the $50 bill with the wood and the burnt cigar and the little plaque.... plus there’s the photo booth self portrait of the artist smoking a cigar. I’m a HUGE fan of both self portraits and photo booths, and a giant fan of artist interjecting themselves into their pieces. That’s not the most intellectual response, but all I can think of at this moment... How classy to mount a $50 in the piece? For Grant? Priceless." --Mandy Corrado-Gutwaks, Board Member

"I like the naked chick [Benjamin Harrison]." --Mary Fons-Misetic, Ensemble

Which one is yours? Think about it and let us know, and in the meantime, come vote on the Obama portraits and see these nine world premieres, created by Caitlin, John, Phil, Ryan Good, Tim, and Genevra:

Neo Feel In My Box (Caitlin Stainken)
If every drop of water in the ocean saw itself in isolation, there would be no such thing as a tidal wave. (Genevra Gallo-Bayiates)
Who Wears The Pants? (John Pierson)
Neo-Futurist Reenactment from Jackass 3D (John Pierson)
salad days (remember, from now on...) (Ryan Good)
The NeoFuturists Present: Seussian Shakespeare - King Lear Act 1 scene 1 (Ryan Good)
Highlights of NFL Greats in Super Slow-Motion HD Instant Replay (Tim Reid)
Sound Effects Theater (Tim Reid)
Don’t Vote: One Person Can make a Difference (Tim Reid)

Food, drink, entertainment, raffle prizes, and election results! Reserve your tickets to the Neo-Obama Portrait-O-Rama now, because they cost more at door!

Kurt Chiang Sexy Man!

2010-10-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2010/10/23-sexy-chicagoans-our-to-do-list-photo-gallery/

"I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it."- Mae West