created by the New York Neo-Futurists
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When I first started working with the New York Neo-Futurists, our artists-in-residence for the 2010 Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit, I had no idea what to expect from their culminating performance on Sunday, June 27. I was familiar with the structure of their work from seeing “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” a couple of times, and knew about ordering of the “menu” of short plays. I even anticipated some on-stage chaos. But It was the content I was worried about.
The Neos were tasked with synthesizing thousands of voices, opinions and ideas bounced around over the course of three days in Baltimore into 10 short plays crammed into a 20 minute window. And I wanted at least some of the plays to be a meaningful reflection on the future of the arts (in line with the conference theme). That was a big challenge to place on anyone’s shoulders, even six young, hilarious theatre gurus who create small plays to perform at random order on a weekly basis.
It all had me a little nervous.
The New York Neo-Futurists did not disappoint me. They enthralled me. Their short plays, all originally written and performed for our convention, covered a broad range of material ranging from Twitter to “silos” to pirate ships.
But they also reflected the diverse and thoughtful voices of our attendees. This play 6 voices 3days 250+connections (with balloons) in particular, rolled up the results of multiple one-on-one interviews that the NYNFs conducted in Baltimore. I happened to find this on stage after their dress rehearsal on Sunday morning, and it almost made me cry.
The delivery of this particular piece was funny, heartwarming, and frenetic all at the same time. The words are priceless. I hope you enjoy it.
Special thanks to Rob Neill and the New York Neo-Futurists for sharing this original work with us and letting me publish it here. And for delivering more than we could have ever hoped for.
For more on the New York Neo-Futurists in Baltimore, check out Marisa Catalina Casey’s blog post about her experience interacting with the Neo-Futurists throughout the conference and a great review of their culminating performance.
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