The Neo-Futurists

this morning, i was chatting online with a friend from chicago. in the middle of the conversation, she went berserk with kudoses for a show called "too much light makes the baby go blind" which she's been catching regularly there. for the ticket, she rolls a dice and whatever number she gets is added to $7. thats the ticket price for her for the day. she goes into a circular room and as she walks in, she gets a name tag. the usher looks at her and gives her whatever name that comes to his/her mind at that spot. she is very excited that she gets a new name everytime she watches their show! numbers 1-30 are hung over the stage. the audience screams out a number each and the skit slotted for that number is performed. 2 mins skits which makes a total of 30 skits in 60 mins is the whole idea. themes are varied. she talked about a skit where a performer was dressed as a geisha and ranted about the flick 'pretty woman", mocking the whole rigmarole of handsome-and-rich-guy-in-love-and-committed-to-a-whore etc etc. another one she cited was about this skit where all the performers lie on the stage, write fear/insecurity/grudge etc etc on a sheet of paper and ties it to a balloon and let it go.

the show in its 18th year is performed by a troupe called The Neo-Futurists. According to the website, "Each night of performance, we create an unreproducable living newspaper collage of the comic and tragic, the political and personal, and the visceral and experimental" and "Each short play is written by a performer, honed by the ensemble, and randomly collaged with twenty-nine other plays through high-energy audience participation". the show's content changes every week.

and oh, they have a blog too! and here is a princetonian review.

even i would love to get a new name and scream out a number!