PARENTS NIGHT OUT: THE? UNICORN? HOUR? 4/6-5/13

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar

THE NEO-FUTURISTS ARE DOING THEIR JOY HOMEWORK IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF LEAH URZENDOWSKI AND ANTHONY COURSER’S 

THE? UNICORN? HOUR? 

APRIL 6 – MAY 13

Adrian Danzig Directs this new Adventure in Discovering and Growing Joy

The teens and I are so excited to be catching the opening of THE? UNICORN? HOUR?, Leah Urzendowski* and Anthony Courser's latest creation. This creative, real life couple are a couple of our favorite local clowns, and physical actors extraordinaire. My kids took clowning and circus arts classes from Anthony for several years and we eagerly catch his shows whenever possible.

The Neo-Futurists are proud to present a world premiere created and performed by Leah Urzendowski* and Anthony Courser The? Unicorn? Hour?, directed by Adrian Danzig, April 6  - May 13, at The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland. Previews are Thursday, April 6 - Saturday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. with opening night Monday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. Performances run Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices for previews and Thursdays are pay what you can; for the regular run, tickets are $10-25. Tickets and information are available at neofuturists.org or 773.275.5255.

The? Unicorn? Hour? invites the audience to discover and grow in an atmosphere where joy can float freely. Inspired by childhood favorites like “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Peewee’s Playhouse,” this show claims joy as the core fantastical world of adventure within us.  Joy is an active choice, requiring a shift of perception of the world around you.   

“We became really obsessed and excited with the politics of joy; joy being an activism; that feeling joy, being joy, creating joy is a way to fight against the world and your oppressor.  Joy is a part of the resistance,” said Leah Urzendowski. “The? Unicorn? Hour? refers to the unicorn that lives within all of us - the mythical magical organ in your soul that can be tapped into at any moment you choose. You can “unicorn” at anytime! Seeking joy is refusing woe and accepting the beauty of an unbridled lifting of the spirit.”

“We want to give people the gift of saying yes and delighting in absurd choices; help people tap back into a time before the word ‘no’ was forced on them. We want to be a looking glass of what a world could look like when we choose to eliminate self-doubt and say yes to a sincere playfulness,” added Anthony Courser.   

ABOUT LEAH URZENDOWSKI* creator/performer

Leah Urzendowski* is a founding member of The Ruffians, and an ensemble member with The Neo-Futurists since 2011. Some of Urzendowski’s Chicago credits include Jeff recommended Mr. Burns (Theatre Wit); Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, Miss Neo Pageant, (both with The Neo- Futurists); Burning Bluebeard (The Ruffians); 500 Clown Trapped, 500 Clown Frankenstein, 500 Clown Macbeth (all with 500 Clown); Moby Dick, Dustbowl Gothic ( both with The Building Stage) and Hunchback (Redmoon). Choreography and movement direction credits include The Magic Play (Goodman), Lord of The Flies (Steppenwolf), Ivywild (Hypocrites), Miss Neo Pageant (The Neo-Futurists) and Burning Bluebeard (The Ruffians, The Neo-Futurists).  TV and film credits include “Chicago PD,” “Chicago Fire,” “ER” and “Operator.” Urzendowski is a teaching artist with The Ruffians, The Neo-Futurists and Team Awesome, specializing in physical theatre, ensemble and partnership building, clown, movement and movement consulting. She received her BFA from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and is represented by Stewart Talent.

ABOUT ANTHONY COURSER, creator/performer

Anthony Courser is a founding member of the Ruffians (2013), an artistic associate with The Neo-Futurists (2012) and a teaching artist with Barrel of Monkeys (2001).  Some of Courser’s favorite Chicago credits include Burning Bluebeard (The Ruffians, The Neo-Futurists); Jeff Recommended Ivywild (The Hypocrites); Daredevils Hamlet, Picked Up, The Fool Returns to His Chair, Daredevils (The Neo-Futurists), That’s Weird, Grandma (Barrel of Monkeys); set designer for Analog (The Neo-Futurists).  He was in the performance ensemble of New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat and the Le Tigre Tent. He is a graduate of Dell Arte International School For Physical Theatre and a student of Panchinko Clowning with Sue Morrison at the Canadian Clown Institute.  Courser is a teacher of clown, Physical Theatre, and Ensemble and Partner Building.  He is also a carpenter, but he doesn’t have time to build you a table.

ABOUT ADRIAN DANZIG** director

Adrian Danzig was an early Neo-Futurist (1990) and a founding member of Redmoon Theater, Hubinspoke Theater and is the founding producing artistic director of 500 Clown. His direction/creation credits include Circle of Madness, Action, Not Dead Yet, 500 Clown Get Happy and the earliest versions of 500 Clown Macbeth. Danzig graduated from New York City’s High School of Performing Arts, received his BA from Oberlin College in Government and his MFA from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in Performance. He has studied clown with Ctibor Turba, Philippe Gaulier, Ronlin Foreman, Dominique Jando, Els Comediants, David Shiner, Avner the Eccentric and was a clown with Big Apple Circus Clown Care for seven years. 
   
* denotes an active member of The Neo-Futurist Ensemble

**denotes a Neo-Futurist Alum

ABOUT THE NEO-FUTURISTS

The Neo-Futurists are a collective of wildly productive writer-director-performers that create theater that is fusion of sport, poetry and living-newspaper. Having created more than 9,775 plays within 28 years of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and over 65 original, full-length productions within their immediate, non-illusory aesthetic. The Neo-Futurists have grown to become one of the most highly regarded experimental theater companies in the United States. From humble beginnings as the first late-night theater production in Chicago, they launched what became Chicago’s longest running show and today sustain multifaceted programs such as Neo-Access, The Kitchen (a micro-festival on art and performance), Prime Time, Neo-Lab and their ongoing late night show 50 weekends every year. For more information visit www.neofuturists.org. 

The Neo-Futurists are proud to present a world premiere created and performed by Leah Urzendowski* and Anthony Courser The? Unicorn? Hour?, directed by Adrian Danzig, April 6 - May 13, at The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland. Previews are Thursday, April 6 - Saturday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. with opening night Monday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. Performances run Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices for previews and Thursdays are pay what you can; for the regular run, tickets are $10-25. Tickets and information are available at neofuturists.org or 773.275.5255.

The Neo-Futurists are partially supported by grants from Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Network for Ensemble Theaters, The Illinois Arts Council Agency, The Chicago Community Trust, a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Field Foundation of Illinois, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

SAVE THE DATES: THE NEO-FUTURISTS UPCOMING 2016-17 PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCED

THE NEO-FUTURISTS 

OPEN THE DOOR 

FOR A SEASON OF 

THOUSANDS OF NEW WORKS IN UPCOMING 2016-17 PROGRAMMING

Neo-Futurists Announce a Slew of Summer Programming and Launch Next Years’ Premiere-Packed Season with a 24-hour Party

I first saw The Neo-Futurists back in 1990, on a weekly basis at Live Bait Theatre, which was walking distance from my first Chicago apartment in Uptown. Back then we cued up outside early to get a coveted spot in the tiny theatre, and they passed out playing cards that equaled their audience capacity. When they sold out (which was every show), they ordered out -- pizza, which generally arrived just as the 60 minute show ended. Admission was the roll of a die, so an affordable $1-$6. Those were fun times and fond memories. The Neo-Futurists pioneered this wacky new form of theater in 1988, launching what became Chicago’s longest running show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, now in its 28^th year.

From humble beginnings as the first late-night theater production in Chicago, The Neo-Futurists have grown to become one of the most highly regarded experimental theater companies in America. More than 70 Ensemble-alumni have added thousands of new works to the American theatre canon and today branches bring Neo-Futurism to both coasts in New York City and San Francisco.

Their 2016-17 Season, which includes three world premieres, multiple in-process initiatives and a 24-hour party. Can’t Stop//Won’t Stop: A 24-Hour Fundraiser with The Neo-Futurists launches the 28^th season with local bands and pop-up performances, all benefitting the company’s 2016-17 season and programs. 

The 28th season includes three full-length Prime Time productions: Saturn Returns created by Tif Harrison; The? Unicorn? Hour? created by Leah Urzendowski and Anthony Courser and The Food Show created by Dan Kerr-Hobert and Caitlin Stainken. The company continues its Neo-Lab residency, presenting Kirsten Riiber’s Tangles and Plaques. In addition to beginning the 28^th year of Chicago’s longest running show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, The Neo-Futurists expand their recurring storytelling performances with The Arrow, created by Kurt Chiang and Lily Mooney and explore a new Neo-structure through Nick Hart’s The Infinite Whale. All season events are held at The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland (at Foster) in Andersonville, unless otherwise noted.

The 2016-17 Neo-Futurists Season includes: 

NeoFuturists_Tangles: (L to R) Kirsten Riiber and Jan de Goede. Photo by Will Sonheim.

2016-17 Neo-Lab presents: Tangles & Plaques

Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Kirsten Riiber

Workshop presentations: Wednesday, Dec. 14 and Saturday, March 11, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: $8

Tangles & Plaques is a play about the life and death of memories; the ways they persist, the ways they depart and the various ways they distort over time. Driven by live memory games, improvisation and scene deconstruction, the show functions as a machine that creates, warps and loses memories, with the input and participation of the audience. Interviews with a local artist who is currently living with dementia will inform what it means to have a memory taken from us without warning and what remains after a memory is lost. Tangles & Plaques attempts to demystify the experience of dementia in the language of theatre— offering a vivid, poignant, participatory experience that is unique to each audience and different every night.

2016-17 SEASON LAUNCHES THREE WORLD PREMIERES WITH A 24-HOUR PARTY

Can’t Stop//Won’t Stop: A 24-Hour Fundraiser with The Neo-Futurists

Saturday, Sept. 17 to Sunday, Sept. 18 from 8 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Full line-up, tickets and information at www.neofuturists.org/cantstop

Crowdrise fundraising page at  https://www.crowdrise.com/cantstop

Team 24 – Full Night Tickets: $150

4-Hour segment tickets: $25 

The Neo-Futurists launch their 28^th Season with their benefit Can’t Stop//Won’t Stop: a 24-hour fundraiser jam packed with pop-up performances, local bands and DJs and a Neo-Futurist ensemble creating a brand-new Too Much Light throughout the night. The sun-down to sun-up to sun-down marathon invites audiences to stay up all night by joining Team 24 or to purchase tickets for just their favorite acts. Team 24 tickets for the full 24-hour event include entry to the final performance of Too Much Light: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes MADE IN 24 HOURS.  In addition to sponsorships and single tickets on sale, the entry fee can be raised via the peer-to-peer fundraising website Crowdrise, the world’s largest and fastest growing fundraising platform, allowing everyone to access the event and fundraise with the Neos.

PRIME TIME SERIES

Saturn Returns

October 13 – November 19

Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Tif Harrison

Previews: Thursday, Oct. 13 -  Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Run: Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.,

Tickets: Previews Pay-What-You-Can, Run: $10-$25  

Neo-Lab’s inaugural commission during the 2015-16 Season, Saturn Returns is a two-year Neo-Futuristic exploration that asks larger existential questions about time, patience and the vast expanse of an unknowable universe. Not content simply with looking inward, Tif Harrison and ensemble look upward and outward, offering observations on the silence and solitude of space, on the uncrossable distances between celestial bodies and the intimacy of standing next to somebody you love.

The? Unicorn? Hour?

April 6 – May 13, 2017

Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Leah Urzendowski and Artistic Associate Anthony Courser

Previews:  Thursday, Apr. 6 – Saturday, Apr. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, April 10, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

Run: Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: Previews: Pay-What-You-Can, Run: $10-$25 

In a world where hate and anger prevail. Where lines between the dark and light can be broken, where night lights are needed to sleep. Where closet doors are shut. Where monsters lurk under the bed. In a world of death and destruction, one creature, and one creature alone can bring joy and adventure. One creature can light the dark corners and glow in the deepest of fogs. One creature, whose single horn can heal sickness and cure disease, whose majestic body glides through the woods, uncaught, spreading laughter to all who seek him. One creature who will save the world. One hour? at a time. Come and see what it is to fight against the no, to find your inner rumpus, to remove the film and seek the beauty that is saying yes to an unbridled lifting of spirit.

NeoFuturists_FoodShow: (L to R) Daniel Kerr-Hobert and Caitlin Stainken. Photo by Will Sonheim.

The Food Show

July 27 – September 2, 2017

Created by Neo-Futurist Ensemble member Dan Kerr-Hobert and Caitlin Stainken

Previews:  Thursday, July 27 – Saturday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m.

Run: Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: Previews Pay-What-You-Can, Run: $10-$25  

The Food Show asks what it means to change a family recipe. Created by Kerr-Hobert and his cousin Caitlin Stainken, a Neo-Futurist alum, the performance explores how food brings us together and sets us apart, amidst a backdrop of their family's culinary inheritance and an ensemble of six writer-performers' own stories. Using the structure of a nine-course fine Italian meal, The Food Show honors the traditions of our past and acknowledges our impact on the environment as each generation decides what parts to keep and what parts to throw away. Farmers, restaurateurs, writers, musicians, and audiences come together to experience the common thread of food and memory in American culture.

More information at: http://neofuturists.org/events/2016-17season/

ONGOING EVENTS AND PERFORMANCES

Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes

Created by Greg Allen, Written by The Neo-Futurist Ensemble

Fridays and Saturdays at 11:30 p.m.; Sundays at 7 p.m.

Every weekend except December 16-18 and 23-25

Best of performances December 2-4 and 9-11

Tickets at the door: Cash only, $9 plus the roll of one six-sided die ($10-15)

Advance tickets: $20 with a $1-6 cash rollback; tickets online at www.neofuturists.org

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is The Neo-Futurists’ never-ending, ever-changing attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. The Neo-Futurists' signature show, now in its 28th year, is the longest-running production in Chicago history. 

NeoFuturists_TheArrow: (L to R) Kurt Chiang and Lily Mooney. Photo by Will Sonheim.

The Arrow

Created by Kurt Chiang and Lily Mooney

November 13; February 5 – 26, 2017; May 21 – June 11, 2017 and August 6 – 27, 2017

Sundays at 3 p.m.

Tickets: $15

Moving into its second year, The Arrow is an innovative storytelling show that subjects written essays to spontaneous interventions. Combining elements of Neo-Futurism, essay reading, improvisation, live lit, and theatrical experiment, The Arrow is a continuing attempt to show dynamic, honest interactions between the people on stage before a live audience. The shows will always be different, and performers will be featured from a variety of disciplines in writing and performance. 

The Infinite Whale

Workshop presentation

Created by Nick Hart

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2017 and Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: $8

Using The Neo-Futurists aesthetic, an ensemble writes an infinite number of experimental plays, each one infinitely long and performs them simultaneously in encroaching darkness. 

The Neo-Futurists

The Neo-Futurists, performers of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind and creators of over 65 original, full-length productions, are a collective of wildly productive writer-director-performers who are committed to creating immediate, non-illusory, irreproducible events at head-slappingly affordable prices. The Neo-Futurists pioneered a new form of theater in 1988, launching what became Chicago’s longest running show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, now in its 28^th year. From humble beginnings as the first late-night theater production in Chicago, The Neo-Futurists have grown to become one of the most highly regarded experimental theater companies in America. More than 70 Ensemble-alumni have added thousands of new works to the American theatre canon and today branches bring Neo-Futurism to both coasts in New York City and San Francisco.

The Neo-Futurists are partially supported by grants from Alphawood Foundation Chicago, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Chicago Community Trust, a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Field Foundation of Illinois, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts.