The Neo-Futurists have announced their 16/17 season, which includes a prime-time line-up of Neo-Futurist developed premieres and the on-going, ever popular, TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND as part of their returning productions.

Neo-Futurists 28th season prime-time line-up:

SATURN RETURNS
October 13 – November 19
Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Tif Harrison
Neo-Lab’s inaugural commission during the 2015-16 Season, Saturn Returns is a two-year Neo-Futuristic exploration that asks larger existential questions about time, patience and the vast expanse of an unknowable universe. Not content simply with looking inward, Tif Harrison and ensemble look upward and outward, offering observations on the silence and solitude of space, on the uncrossable distances between celestial bodies and the intimacy of standing next to somebody you love.

THE? UNICORN? HOUR? 
April 6 – May 13, 2017
Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Leah Urzendowski and Artistic Associate Anthony Courser In a world where hate and anger prevail. Where lines between the dark and light can be broken, where night lights are needed to sleep. Where closet doors are shut. Where monsters lurk under the bed. In a world of death and destruction, one creature, and one creature alone can bring joy and adventure. One creature can light the dark corners and glow in the deepest of fogs. One creature, whose single horn can heal sickness and cure disease, whose majestic body glides through the woods, uncaught, spreading laughter to all who seek him. One creature who will save the world. One hour? At a time. Come and see what it is to fight against the no, to find your inner rumpus, to remove the film and seek the beauty that is saying yes to an unbridled lifting of spirit.

THE FOOD SHOW
July 27 – September 2, 2017
Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Dan Kerr-Hobert and Caitlin Stainken
The Food Show asks what it means to change a family recipe. Created by Kerr-Hobert and his cousin Caitlin Stainken, a Neo-Futurist alum, the performance explores how food brings us together and sets us apart, amidst a backdrop of their family’s culinary inheritance and an ensemble of six writer-performers’ own stories. Using the structure of a nine-course fine Italian meal, The Food Show honors the traditions of our past and acknowledges our impact on the environment as each generation decides what parts to keep and what parts to throw away. Farmers, restaurateurs, writers, musicians, and audiences come together to experience the common thread of food and memory in American culture.

Ongoing Events and Workshops:

TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND: 30 PLAYS IN 60 MINUTES 
Created by Greg Allen, Written by The Neo-Futurist Ensemble
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is The Neo-Futurists’ never-ending, ever-changing attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. The Neo-Futurists’ signature show, now in its 28th year, is the longest-running production in Chicago history.

THE ARROW
Created by Kurt Chiang and Lily Mooney
Moving into its second year, The Arrow is an innovative storytelling show that subjects written essays to spontaneous interventions. Combining elements of Neo-Futurism, essay reading, improvisation, live lit, and theatrical experiment, The Arrow is a continuing attempt to show dynamic, honest interactions between the people on stage before a live audience. The shows will always be different, and performers will be featured from a variety of disciplines in writing and performance.

THE INFINITE WHALE 
Workshop presentation
Using The Neo-Futurists aesthetic, an ensemble writes an infinite number of experimental plays, each one infinitely long and performs them simultaneously in encroaching darkness.

2016-17 Neo-Lab:

TANGLES AND PLAQUES
Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Kirsten Riiber
Workshop presentations: Wednesday, Dec. 14 and Saturday, March 11, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.
A play about the life and death of memories; the ways they persist, the ways they depart and the various ways they distort over time. Driven by live memory games, improvisation and scene deconstruction, the show functions like a machine that creates, warps and loses memories, with the input and participation of the audience. Interviews with a local artist who is currently living with dementia will inform what it means to have a memory taken from us without warning and what remains after a memory is lost. Tangles & Plaques attempts to demystify the experience of dementia in the language of theatre— offering a vivid, poignant, participatory experience that is unique to each audience and different every night.