The Neo-Futurists are an experimental theater troupe founded by Greg Allen in 1988, beginning with the play Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes. Neo-Futurism, inspired by the Italian Futurist movement from the early 20th century, is based on an aesthetics of honesty, speed and brevity. Neo-Futurism is currently housed in the Neo-Futurarium on the north side of Chicago, converted out of an apartment above a funeral home.

The Neo-Futurist aesthetic demands that actors only play themselves, and that all plays take place on a stage, specifically, the stage on which they are performed. The stories that actors tell must be stories derived from their lives. Often, these plays take on a confessionalist tone, however they are just as often satirical pieces of performance art, demands for audience participation, or simply weird and abstracted pieces. Many of their theatrical tropes are derived from the work of Samuel Beckett and Bertolt Brecht.

For the first few years, the Neo-Futurist movement consisted entirely of TMLMTBGB, as it is often referred to, but eventually expanded to include what they call "prime time productions," to contrast to the late night hour of TMLMTBGB, which started at 11:30. These prime time publications have included a tour of the area around the Neo-Futurarium, staged readings of bad 20th century movies, and The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen, in which the last two minutes of all of Henrik Ibsen's plays are performed back to back.

A second Neo-Futurist troupe has come into existence in New York City, which currently performs their own version of TMLMTBGB adhering to the same principles of Neo-Futurism as the Chicago troupe.

In an interesting note, one Neo-Futurist playwright-actor, a.k.a Ian Pierce, a.k.a John Pierson, has also worked extensively in the field of music as guitarist for the band Screeching Weasel. One bandmate in this band, bassist and producer Mass Giorgini, is the son of noted Italian artist Aldo Giorgini, and protege of Ambrogio Casati, an original Italian Futurist.

The Neo-Futurists have published three books of plays from TMLMTBGB - two books of regular plays, and one of plays that use only one actor. They've also released one CD recording of plays from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, one video, and a recording of Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious a play described as an attempt to destroy comedy by analyzing it to death.

External links

• The Neo-Futurists - Official homepage
• The NY Neo-Futurists - New York Neo-Futurists Official homepage.

Art movements | Futurism