GORHAM, ME — Will they do it? Is it possible? Can a theatre ensemble possibly perform thirty plays in under an hour?! Join the USM Department of Theatre for the high-octane, interactive theatre experience that is Greg Allen’s 30 Neo-Futurist Plays from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes, one of Chicago’s longest-running theatre phenomena.

Each night audiences receive a menu of play titles that run the gamut between funny, serious, political, poignant, and abstract. Part theatre, part sporting event, each night is different as the audience determines the order and cheers on the cast to make it past the finish line before the buzzer sounds.

Rachel Price Cooper directs the USM Department of Theatre’s first-year cohort in this play that truly has something for everyone. “There is a lot of audience participation in that everyone receives a menu of all the plays on their way in and gets to yell out which ones they want to see”, she says. “It’s a kind of choose-your-own-adventure theatre experience. It’s a great one to take your friend to who thinks they don’t like live theatre. It is also great for those of us (myself included) who don’t have the longest attention span. This will keep you interested, start to finish. You’ll laugh, you’ll think, and can come back a second time and have another totally new experience.”

This show is also a homecoming of sorts for Price Cooper. “This piece originated on the north side of Chicago, where I grew up. It ran for decades. Every weekend people would line up outside the Neofuturist space on Ashland and Foster. Often the line stretched around the block and they had to turn people away. It was a phenomenon!”

30 Neo-Futurist Plays from Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (30 plays in 60 minutes) by Greg Allen, directed by Rachel Price Cooper runs from November 30-December 3 at Russell Hall, USM Gorham Campus.

Performances:

November 30 at 7pm

December 1 at 7pm

December 3 at 2pm & 6pm

Get tickets online at https://a.purplepass.com/events/262569 or call the box office at 207-780-5151

$18 for Adults; $14 for USM Faculty, Staff & Students; $12 for Seniors; $8 for Students/Youth

Discounts: $3 off any ticket at any performance with code Thursday3 at checkout. Patrons at shows will receive a special discount to attend the show more than once!

More Info USM Department of Theatre Shows & Programs: https://usm.maine.edu/department-theatre/

Content Advisory: This show contains the use of strobe and flashing lights, use of profanity, depictions of alcohol consumption and violence, references to suicide. Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in this program, contact Janice Gardner at (207)780-5289 or janice.gardner@maine.edu. Hearing impaired: call USM’s telex / TDD number (207)780-5646

Sydney Weinberger & Pierina Camuzzo