The Chicago-based Neo-Futurists are back in town with “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” the production that, believe it or not, presents 30 mini-plays in 60 minutes. Those plays are created on a very tight schedule.
“Our week ends on a Sunday,” Jay Torrence, artistic director of the group, said in a recent interview. “We come together and talk about which shows are going to be cut out of the menu. Then new plays have to be written by Friday. We go away and write and come in on Tuesday night for rehearsal.
“Then we pitch the plays to each other. We work as a collective under the consensus model as far as decision-making goes. Everybody has an equal voice, and we work collaboratively to select pieces for the show. You can’t choose your own work. Someone else has to champion your play.”
This is the third time the Neo-Futurists have performed “Too Much Light” in Washington. The group is different from many improvisational theaters, in that the actors don’t just ask for ideas or topics. The audience actually gets to decide in which order the plays will be presented.
“We try to keep the play menu in what we call ‘balance,’ ” Torrence said, “with the right amount of political work, the right amount of comedy, the right amount of personal work. So sometimes we write plays that demand audience participation. We set up a situation where we will not know the outcome, it will always be different depending on what an audience member chooses. We celebrate that randomness. Creating that moment of chaos is exciting. We always embrace what the audience gives us.”
