The PopMatters Video Interview: Greg Allen of the Neo-Futurists

The title — Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind — is kind of wacky. The content, however, is downright unpredictable.

Greg Allen crafted “Neo-Futurism” after spending much time studying the Italian Futurists while at Oberlin College, eventually bringing Too Much Light to Chicago in December of 1988. Since then, this show — wherein 30 plays are performed within one hour, the plays themselves changing on a weekly basis — has not only become the longest running show in Chicago, but has also spawned a branch out in New York as well. Between his work with the Neos, Allen has also written and directed plays all around the country, often to great acclaim.

Here, in this exclusive interview with PopMatters, Allen sits down with us to discuss the Neo-Futurist aesthetic, responds to the charge that Too Much Light is “short attention span theatre”, and attempts to turn a table upside down with only the help of audience applause …