Neo-Futurists

The Neo-Futurists are an experimental theater troupe founded by Greg Allen (an alum of the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center) in 1988, based on an aesthetics of honesty, speed and brevity. Neo-Futurists in theatre were inspired by the Italian Futurist movement from the early 20th century.

The Neo-Futurist architects, designers and artists believe in eco-sustainable cities cross-pollinated by arts and technology to provide a better quality of life; the definition of Neo-Futurism in art and architecture came from the reference to the United Nations’ report Our Common Future;[1]

In theater

The Neo-Futurist aesthetic demands that everything that transpires in their theater be non-illusory, which is to say that they pretend nothing; actors only play themselves. All plays take place on a stage, specifically, the stage on which they are performed, in the present. If one of the performers reports that something has happened, you can bet that it really happened. Much of their work contains the possibility of failure, a unique theatrical component that keeps them and the audience honest. Their plays are wildly eclectic, touching on all genres and tones; plays may be political, satirical, personal, tragic, comic, abstract, musical, surreal, poetic, and so on.

The bottom line is that Neo-Futurism does not buy into the "suspension of disbelief"—it does not attempt to take the audience anywhere else at any other time with any other people. The idea is to deal with what is going on right here and now.

The Neo-Futurists began with the show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes, often abbreviated as TMLMTBGB (though many refer to it simply as TML). For the first few years, the Neo-Futurist movement consisted entirely of TMLMTBGB, but then expanded to include "prime time productions." These productions began late evening, as opposed to TMLMTBGB's late-night starting time (11:30 in Chicago, 10:30 in New York).

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.

In 2008 the New York Neo-Futurists put on (Not) Just a Day Like Any Other, four autobiographical stories woven together with accompanying Bollywood music videos, relationships charted via PowerPoint, and margaritas for all.[2]

In 2011, the New York Neo-Futurists produced an original piece, "Locker 4173b," wherein Neo-Futurists Joey Rizzolo and Christopher Borg purchased a foreclosed storage locker and, as amateur archaeologists, excavated, catalogued, and chronicled their findings.[3] The show received critical acclaim and received a New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Performance Art Production in 2011.[4]

The New York Neo-Futurists were also New York Innovative Theatre Awards recipients for 'Best Performance Art Production' in 2006, 'Outstanding Ensemble' in 2009, and Caffe Cino Award 2010. They have ventured into producing short films under the umbrella of the Neo-Futurist aesthetic. In 2009 the New York company won the Village Voice Readers’ Choice poll for Best Performance Art and was named one of the nytheatre.com People of the Year.

In art and architecture: Neo-Futurism

Coleridge’s suspension of disbelief in the limitations of a wide-scale urbanization has been denied by urbanists, architects, designers and artists who believe in cities releasing emotions, driven by eco-sustainability, values and implementing new materials and new technologies to provide a better quality of life. Inspired by Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia and pioneered from early 1960s and late 1970s by thought leader Hal Foster,[5] French architect Denis Laming, American architects William Pereira [6][7][8] and Charles Luckman[9][10] and Danish architects Henning Larsen[11] and Jørn Utzon.[12] The neo-futurist avant-garde movement has been relaunched in 2007 by Expo 2015 Innovation Designer Vito Di Bari. Neo-Futurist architecture and art have been creatively inspired by Iraqi-British Pritzker Prize architect Zaha Hadid,[13][14][15] and Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava;[16][17][18] Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor[19][20] and Dutch kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen.[21] Italian Innovation Designer Vito Di Bari is considered the thought leader of the movement,[22] his vision of the “cross-pollination of art and technology for a better world” has been defined by Steve Jobs[23] as the "post-PC DNA"[24][25] and it is shared by acclaimed architects, designers and artists such as the youngest recipient ever of the Pritzker Prize Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa, architect of Ecoville in Curitiba and of the first rotating residential buildings Bruno de Franco, Design for Asia Award 2004-7-9 recipient Hong Kong Architect Gary Chang, Brazilian architect Rodrigo Ohtake, Lubetkin Prize Winner British designer Thomas Heatherwick, Design for Asia 2008 Award recipient Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka, Italian artist Mario Arlati, Polish artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski.

In animation

Academy Award nominee (and eventual Academy Award winner) Chris Landreth made an animated short of Greg Kotis's "Disregard this Play" entitled "Bingo." In the short, a man sits in the middle of a circus ring where he is accosted by carnival music and disturbing, clown-like characters. Each character greets the man as Bingo. At first he resists the name, arguing that he, in fact, is not Bingo. By the end of the five-minute animation, the man believes he is Bingo/Bingo the Clown/Bingo the Clown-o. The animation's ending of, "Thank you. Next," from a voice over a loud speaker and the subsequent pause in darkness gives almost the same feel as the "Curtain!" the Neo-Futurists yell at the end of each play.

Theater Members

Since 1988, the ranks of the Neo-Futurists have included the following individuals (listed alphabetically):

  • Claudia Alick
  • Greg Allen
  • Rachelle Anthes
  • Jessica Anne
  • Brenda Arellano
  • Dave Awl
  • Cecil Edward Baldwin
  • Ted Bales
  • Meg Bashwiner
  • Joe Basile
  • Andy Bayiates
  • Jill Beckman
  • Sean Benjamin
  • Micael Bogar
  • Christopher Borg
  • Desiree Burch
  • Eliza Burmester
  • Randy Burgess
  • Lisa Buscani
  • Tyler Butterfield
  • Regie Cabico
  • Will Caldwell
  • Karen Christopher
  • Kurt Chiang
  • Katharine Chin
  • Rachel Claff
  • Bill Coelius
  • Megan Cohen
  • Roberta Colindrez
  • Jeffrey Cranor
  • Michael Cyril Creighton
  • Ida Cuttler
  • Adrian Danzig
  • Bilal Dardai
  • Trevor Dawkins
  • Joe Dempsey
  • Chris Dippel
  • Dean Evans
  • Marjorie Fitzsimmons
  • Molly Flynn
  • Mary Fons
  • Cara Francis
  • Kevin R. Free
  • Betsy Freytag
  • Genevra Gallo
  • Ricardo Gamboa
  • Phil Gibbs
  • Ryan Good
  • Bobby Goodrapes
  • Sharon Greene
  • Ayun Halliday
  • Alicia Harding
  • Tif Harrison
  • Nick Hart
  • Eevin Hartsough
  • Scott Hermes
  • Nicole Hill
  • Katy-May Hudson
  • Lindsay Brandon Hunter
  • Chisa Hutchinson
  • Rex Jenny
  • Chloe Johnston
  • Kate Jones
  • Connor Kalista
  • Spencer Kayden
  • Heather Kelley
  • Dan Kerr-Hobert
  • Kathy Keyes
  • Jeewon Kim
  • Olivia Kingsley
  • David Kodeski
  • Greg Kotis
  • Noelle Krimm
  • Jacquelyn Landgraf
  • Amy Langer
  • Zoe Lehman
  • Sarah Levy
  • Melissa Lindberg
  • Erica Livingston
  • Christopher Loar
  • Anita Loomis
  • Jonathan Mastro
  • Robin MacDuffie
  • Dylan Marron
  • Margaret McCarthy
  • Dan McCoy
  • Megan Mercier
  • Daniel Mirsky
  • Lily Mooney
  • Steve Mosqueda
  • Rob Neill
  • Nessa Norich
  • Flor De Liz Perez
  • Page Phillips
  • John Pierson
  • Matt Pine
  • Mike Puckett
  • Marta Rainer
  • Emma Reaves
  • Sheri Reda
  • Tim Reid
  • Tim Reinhard
  • Phil Ridarelli
  • Kirsten Riiber
  • Heather Riordan
  • Joey Rizzolo
  • Geryll Robinson
  • Paige Saliba
  • Connor Sampson
  • Lauren Sharpe
  • Stephanie Shaw
  • Diana Slickman
  • Adam Smith
  • Alexis Smith
  • Siyu Song
  • Lusia Strus
  • Caitlin Stainken
  • Colin Summers
  • F. Omar Telan
  • Justin Tolley
  • Jay Torrence
  • Katrina Toshiko
  • Mike Troccoli
  • Leah Urzendowski-Courser
  • Kristie Koehler Vuocolo
  • Dina Marie Walters
  • Ryan Walters
  • Steven Westdahl
  • Malic White
  • Yolanda Kaye Wilkinson
  • Jenny Williams

Theater Locations

References

  1. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 019282080X
  2. Sobieski, Sonia (November 2008). "Looking to the Neo-Future: (Not) Just Another Day Like Any Other". The Brooklyn Rail.
  3. "New York Times article, 'Finding the Drama in What Life Has Left Behind' by Corey Kilgannon" New York Times.com, accessed August 6, 2012
  4. "New York Innovative Theater Awards Listing, '2011 Recipients'" nyitawards.com, accessed August 6, 2012
  5. "Neofuturism Architecture And Technology, SCI-Arc Media Archive". Sma.sciarc.edu. 1987-10-05. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  6. Los Angeles Forum for architecture and urban design, Scott Johnson http://laforum.org/content/articles/william-pereira-by-scott-johnson
  7. The Los Angeles Chapter of The American Institute for Architects, Alan Hess, William Pereira: Designing Modern Los Angeles, 2013 http://www.aialosangeles.org/calendar/architect-william-pereira-s-modern-la#.UvA2D78TuqQ
  8. http://www.nyc-architecture.com/STYLES/STY-Futurist.htm
  9. Hugh Pearman, Airports: A Century of Architecture, http://www.amazon.com/Airports-Century-Architecture-Hugh-Pearman/dp/081095012X
  10. http://www.preservationdallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/December-2012-Member-Newsletter.pdf
  11. http://opera-cake.blogspot.com/2010/10/neo-futurism-at-danish-royal-opera.html
  12. http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=3758
  13. Dubai's Futuristic Floating Building by Zaha Hadid http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/zaha-hadid-architects-opus-office-tower 2013-11-13 Retrieved 2014-01-23
  14. 15 Most Futuristic Architecture Projects of Zaha Hadid http://www.decoist.com/2013-03-14/futuristic-architecture-zaha-hadid/ Retrieved 2013-01-23
  15. Futuristic Design of Miami's One Thousand Museum Tower by Zaha Hadid http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/76062 2013-11-27 Retrieved 2014-01-23
  16. http://indulgy.com/post/lYCCF7fTw1/futuristic-architecture-santiago-calatrava-futur
  17. http://clashot.com/report-1214583-Auditorio-de-Tenerife-futuristic-building-designed-by-Santiago-Calatrava-Valls-Santa-Cruz-de-Tenerife-Spain.html
  18. http://prezi.com/zfqnerlq-kvd/futurism-and-santiago-calatrava/
  19. http://yvonnekturner.blogspot.com/2012/03/anish-kapoor-ultimate-city-futurist.html 2012-03-12 Retrieved 2014-01-23
  20. http://blog.olenska.com/2011/06/28/three-futuristic-views-inside-anish-kapoor-at-the-grand-palais/
  21. http://www.bozux.com/theo-jansen-art-in-the-form-of-science/ by Bozzou in Art, Futurism 2013-11-13
  22. TED Talks Marrakech, September 21, 2013
  23. "Cross-Pollination the Steve Jobs’ Way | Pat's Blog". Patriciaharmon.wordpress.com. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  24. "THE NEW FUTURISM | Confessions of a Digital Adman". Digitaladman.com. 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  25. "Neo-Futurism in the Information Age | Technology Treason". Ajfisher.me. 2011-10-17. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  26. Awl, Dave. "Stephen Colbert: Behind the Maniac, " Ocelopotamus (May 23rd, 2007 ).

External links

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