Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind

July 20, 2008 on 5:32 am | In Life in NY |

(For the purposes of this blog post, I will begin with a blues number)

There was this show.

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Theatrical show.

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30 plays in 60 minutes

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And it was a damn good show.

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I didn’t say it was going to be a good blues song. But it’s true and it’s from the heart. Last night I got the chance to check out a show by a NY theater troupe called the Neo-Futurists. The name of the show is Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind which is a great title, almost as good as The Red White and Blue Confederate Blues Band, Medicine Show, Compound and Family Reunion, the folk rock project I never got together.

The show is 60 minutes of the best theater I’ve seen since I got to the city two years ago. The most fun, the most humor, the best experience I could hope to have while sitting in a theater seat. I strongly, strongly urge you, my nine readers, to check this show out if you are ever in NYC.

Last night’s show, like every show, is different than the one that preceded it, and different from the show that follows it the next night. “How?” you may ask. The secret is volume. Each show is timed at 60 minutes, with 30 short plays or sketches on tap for the night. In fact, every sketch is listed in that night’s menu, numbered 1 through 30. The audience chooses the order of the plays by shouting out the number of their favorite, loudest shouter wins.

The plays are all-around awesome. Each one has its own theme, lighting, soundtrack, each one can go from as small as a monologue to as large as an 80’s style prom with streamers, balloons, punch, and audience members picking cast members for slow dances. All interesting, all perfect for short attention spans, all original.

And every night there’s new plays! 9 new plays debuted last night, more plays tonight, totally new plays next week. So many hilarious moments, I will definitely going back to see what else what they cook up.

Check them out on the web at their web site. Two shows a week, 10:30 at the Kraine Theater/Red Room Bar. Admission, well, that’s the thing. $10 base, plus the roll of a die. As little as $11, as much as $16. And that’s creative theater, baby.

Gah, this totally makes up for all that awful improv I’ve seen over the last 2 years.