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Light Will Never Go Out
The NY Neo-Futurist’s Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind
Daniel McCoy (center), Christopher Borg, Ryan Good and Alicia Harding are part of New York Neo-Futurists’ Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Photo: J.M. Pixley)
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When one thinks of the longest-running shows in New York, the mind invariably turns to Broadway. Shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and The Lion King are all poster children for longevity. However, there is one much-loved East Village staple that has been running as long as those Broadway veterans, brought to you by the New York Neo-Futurists: the 30-play, hour-long spectacle known as Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.
The New York Neo-Futurists are a group on a mission to connect and bond with their audience and the public, and have been ever since they brought their show over from Chicago in 1995. For four years now, they have used their performances to champion gay advocacy and acceptance in general. This summer, two shows were dedicated to this cause, with proceeds going towards gay and transgender advocacy in Uganda. The Neo-Futurists have also brought TMLMTBGB to many colleges and theaters around the country, extending their appeal beyond New York and Chicago.
The Neos, as they are affectionately called, consider themselves writers, not actors, which gives their performances a raw, personal quality. TMLMTBGB reflects this. The show is, for lack of a better genre, performance art. Its goal is to bring you 30 plays, all of which are two-minute works created by the Neos themselves, in one hour. This feat is formidable enough, but add the fact that the audience dictates the order in which the pieces are performed to the mix and the result is highly energized and highly personalized. With new plays added all the time and the order changing at every performance, the same show will never be performed twice
To see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is to have a truly unique theatrical experience that you will no doubt remember for years to come. Its creator, Greg Allen, drew on many different modern philosophies and theatrical traditions in order to approach the creation of a new style of theater intellectually. The result is a show that takes dedication on the performer’s part and requires an involved audience that is willing to spend a comic, tragic, bizarre and otherwise indescribable hour in a theater.
While it is doubtful that all 30 plays will be entirely to everyone’s liking, many of the works are food for thought that successfully and succinctly say what many plays take hours to divulge. All of the ingredients for fun can be found in the show if one is prepared to get out of one’s seat, have fun and give back to the Neos. After all, their goal is to give back to you.
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is performed every Friday and Saturday night for 50 weeks out of the year at the Kraine Theater (85 E. 4th St.). For tickets and more information regarding The Neo-Futurist philosophy, visit their website or call 866-811-4111.