Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes (Too Much Light or TML) was the longest running show in the history of Chicago theater created and trademarked by Greg Allen in Chicago[1] and was the only open-run Off-Off-Broadway show in New York.[2] Opening in Chicago December 2nd 1988, the show ran 50 weekends of the year through 2016.[3] As its subtitle states, the show consists of 30 original short plays performed in 60 minutes. All were written, directed, and performed by an ensemble. The plays tend to be a mixture of autobiography, performance art, and living newspaper. In 2016 Allen collaborated to create the UnTheatre Company of Detroit to continue the run of "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind". During the 2020 pandemic, the company began "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Zoom (30 Pandemic Plays in 60 Covid Minutes)" performing the live interactive show with a nationwide ensemble every Friday and Saturday night live on Zoom.

History

Neo-Futurism as an aesthetic, as well as the format of TML, are both creations of Neo-Futurist Founding Director Greg Allen. The Neo-Futurism aesthetic is an updating of the early 20th century Italian Futurism movement with hefty doses of Fluxus, Dada, Surrealism, Brecht, Boal, and performance art thrown in.[4] Greg Allen came up with the name from a case study of a young autistic child who would smash light bulbs and repeat, "Too much light makes the baby go blind. Too much light makes the baby go blind." Later, when he was creating this show, the saying came back to his mind.

From 1990 to 2014, numerous volumes of plays from the show have been published. The book "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 90 Plays from the First 25 Years" published by Playscripts has been produced all over the world with over 100 productions a year.

In November 2016, Allen revoked the Chicago Neo-Futurists' rights to perform TML in a public announcement.[5]

Tone of the show

The show is the work of the Neo-Futurism movement, a variant of the Italian Futurism movement [1] and reflects their aesthetic of non-illusory theater, where, as Allen states it, "all of our plays are 'set' on the stage in front of the audience. All of our 'characters' are ourselves... We do not aim to 'suspend the audience's disbelief' but to create a world where the stage is a continuation of daily life."

Structure

The structure of TML since 1988 has remained consistent: a random ticket price for the show is determined by the roll of a die with a fixed amount (currently $9 for the Detroit show) being added for each person. Upon payment, a member of the ensemble wearing noise-canceling headphones asks "What's your name?" of the audience member before giving them a name tag with an erroneous or approximate "name" on it. Audience members are then given a "menu" of the play titles for that evening from which the plays are selected by audience members calling out their number - the first number heard by the ensemble being the play performed. Plays begin with the word "Go!" and end when a member of the cast calls "Curtain!" Many of the plays contain elements of randomness and audience interaction. The list of plays is perpetually rotating. Every week between two and twelve plays (determined by two rolls of a die by someone in the audience) are removed from the "menu" and replaced with new plays, written and staged over the course of the week.

As part of an interactive tradition, when a particular evening sells out, the cast orders pizza from a local restaurant, allowing the audience to order toppings. Only a single pizza is ordered, however, which the entire audience must share.[6]

New York troupe

A second Neo-Futurist company was founded by Greg Allen in New York City in 2004. The New York Neo-Futurists performed Too Much Light at the Kraine Theater in the East Village. This production had its own ensemble members, and thus contained different short plays than the Chicago show. In 2006, the New York Neo-Futurists were the recipients of the New York Innovative Theatre Awards Outstanding Performance Art Production Award for "Too Much Light...".[2]

Montreal troupe

Allen travelled to Montreal to start a Francophone Canadian company in 2007. Dubbed "Les Neos" they performed through 2012.

San Francisco troupe

In 2013, Allen created a fourth open run of "Too Much Light" which was produced in San Francisco by Lucy Tafler and New York Neo-Futurist alum Adam Smith, performing in various venues in San Francisco's Theatre District. In 2016, they were voted San Francisco's Best Theater Company in the SF Bay Guardian's "Best of the Bay" Reader's Poll.[7] Like the New York Neo-Futurists, the troupe had their own ensemble members and plays. Through 2016 they performed the show at SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts.[8]

References
  1. Scotty Zacher (2010-03-30). "REVIEW: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Neo-Futurists)". Chicago Theater Beat. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  2. Collins, Laura. "Theater". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  3. Jones, Chris. "Longtime favorite 'Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind' to end over dispute". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  4. Levitt, Aimee. "Too Much Light at 25: An oral history | Performing Arts Feature". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  5. "'Too Much Light' creator yanks show from Chicago Neo-Futurists". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  6. Levitt, Aimee. "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind | Performing Arts Review". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  7. B, Marke (2016-10-20). "BEST OF THE BAY 2016: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT WINNERS". 48 hills. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
  8. "SF Neo-Futurists win race even if they don't finish". SFGate. Retrieved 2016-12-03.

Further reading

Allen, Greg. "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes): 90 Plays from the First 25 Years". New York: Playscripts, 2015.

Allen, Greg. 100 Neo-Futurist Plays from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Chicago: Chicago Plays, 2002.

Radosavljevic, Duska. "The Contemporary Ensemble: Interviews with Theatre-Makers". London: Routledge, 2013.

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