Mission
The New York Neo-Futurists are a radically dynamic ensemble of multidisciplinary artists who write and perform original work rooted in the truth of our own lived experiences. We fuse elements of poetry, game, and performance art to create ever-changing theatre and other artistic experiments to respond to the world around us.
Many eras of Neo-Futurists at our 2019 Gala
The New York Neo-Futurists are…
Statement of Purpose
We believe in creating art under four tenets: we are who we are, we are where we are, we are doing what we are doing, and the time is now.
We believe in empowering the artist to share their own stories honestly on stage.
We believe in embracing failure, experimentation, and change– giving ourselves an infinite number of next chances.
We believe that limitations and gamified structure set our creativity free.
We believe in giving artists the opportunity to develop their voice through rigorous participation in our collective process of creation and re-creation.
We believe in generating a high volume of work, living with this work for a short time, then moving onto what’s next.
We believe in making work for curious audiences who ask questions of themselves and their communities.
We must create more space for artists who are historically excluded and undervalued by American mainstream theater and its inequitable arts model.
We strive for pay equity and guarantee our artists compensation.
We adapt our processes and offerings to suit the moment so that we can continue to make art in difficult times.
Our Story
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind opened at Stage Left Theater in Chicago on December 2, 1988. Conceived and directed by Greg Allen, the show was written and performed by an eight-person ensemble and billed as “an ever-changing attempt to perform 30 Plays in 60 Minutes.” The show promised an emotional and intellectual roller-coaster of ideas and images ridden at break-neck speed by a participating audience. Greg Allen and the ensemble created the formula for Too Much Light… from an amalgam of different influences. In typical post-modern fashion, a theory was borrowed from here, a form was stolen from there. From our namesakes, the Italian Futurists came the exultation of speed, brevity, compression, dynamism, and the explosion of preconceived notions. From Dada and Surrealism came the joy of randomness and the thrill of the unconscious. From the theatrical experiments of the 1960’s came audience interaction, breaking down all notions of distance, character, setting, and illusion. Finally, from the political turmoil of the 1980’s came a socially conscious voice and a low-tech, “poor theater” format. This Neo-Futurist aesthetic, embraced by an ensemble of highly dedicated, talented writer/performers, became Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.
In the spring of 1995, three one-time Chicago Neo-Futurists and two brand new recruits ventured to Manhattan to perform T.M.L.M.T.B.G.B. They opened first at the emerging H.E.R.E Theater and then moved to the raw energy of Ludlow Street’s Todo con Nada. A sixth member was added to the New York company, and Greg Kotis premiered his play, Jobey and Katherine. This New York run of Too Much Light lasted just over two years until the supplies ran low and the ensemble was scattered to the winds (the ‘winds’ being various remarkable projects including Urinetown: The Musical, raising families, and many other amazing things too numerous to mention here).
In 2004, the Neo-Futurists broadened their horizons yet again from the Second City to the City That Never Sleeps (or at least, to its neighboring borough). On April 2, 2004, an almost entirely new cast of 10 ripped into the first performance of Too Much Light at the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope. After an initial six-month run in Brooklyn, we moved back to Manhattan to the Belt Theater then back to H.E.R.E., followed by the Cherry Lane, and since 2005 we have based out of the East Village in the historic Kraine Theater.
We have toured all around the country, most notably to the Hubbard Hall, Alden Theater, Foothills Performing Arts Center, NACL, Austin College, Grinnell College, Sarah Lawrence, Fordham, Ripon College, Lafayette College, University of Texas, Hamilton College, University of Delaware, Hofstra, NYU, Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, Artists of Tomorrow Festival, the Providence Improv Festival, Edinburgh Festival, and Ladyfest. We have appeared on the Joey Reynolds Show, Your Program is Your Ticket, 44 Charlton, Indie Theater Now, and the Derek and Romaine Show. We also have been featured in The New York Times, The New York Post, Pinque Magazine, and Comedy Magazine.
In 2017, the New York Neo-Futurists, in conjunction with the companies in Chicago and San Francisco began delving into a new weekly Neo-Futurist show. With 43 years of collective history performing Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, the ensembles are now collaborating on the next chapter of our late-night productions, experimenting in Neo-Futurism in our new ongoing weekly show: The Infinite Wrench. In 2024 after 17 years at the Kraine Theater, we moved the show across Mahanttan to 154 (formerly the New Ohio) in the historic Archive Building at 154 Christopher Street in the West Village.
In New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, and beyond, the Neo-Futurists continue to expose and explore new artistic territory, all consistent with the original mission to create interactive, highly personal, emotionally and intellectually challenging art for the general public.