Getting a Culture Fix

We went to see the Neofuturists (a Chicago-based theatre company) perform Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind over the weekend at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in D.C. and it was really incredible. The show has an everchanging "Menu" of short plays ( 30 plays in 60 minutes) that ranged from political to personal to simply hilarious. Here's a brief exerpt from their website:

Our signature show, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, which had its first performance on December 2, 1988, is now in its nineteenth year, making it the longest-running show in Chicago today. Too Much Light..., with its ever-changing "menu," is an attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. The single unifying element of these plays is that they are performed from a perspective of absolute honesty. We always appear as ourselves on stage, speaking directly from our personal experiences. Each short play is written by a performer, honed by the ensemble, and randomly collaged with twenty-nine other plays through high-energy audience participation. Each week, these plays shift as ensemble members add new plays to the existing body of work. Each night of performance, we create an unreproducable living newspaper collage of the comic and tragic, the political and personal, and the visceral and experimental. We sometimes create "theme" shows for special occasions such as Halloween, Pride Weekend, and Mother's and Father's Days.

If you get a chance to see this show in Chicago or anywhere they tour, do it. It's an awesome ride. Additionally, D.C. locals, I really recommend you take in a show at Woolly Mammoth (7th and D, NW) to see great, unique plays. Check out their upcoming shows here.