In this piece, I perform a revised version of a two-minute play  ("The Second Great Depression") I first wrote and performed (with Sarah Levy) for the group's premiere of their flagship show, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, in 2004.  I've worked with the Neos for twenty five years, on mainstage shows and in their weekly flagship shows, which stage full evenings of 30 or more two-minute plays, performed according to their signature aesthetic which abjures illusion in favor of bold, frank presence we sometimes describe as "non-illusory theatre" (but maybe better understood as performance art.)

 Too Many Ladies was the New York Neo-Futurists first show written and performed entirely by women, femmes, and non-binary folks.  "Kafka and The Doll" was written for this show, and uses the Neos' signature form:  short pieces, performed without attempts at illusion and under time pressure. You can hear in this piece, as in others, an ensemble member beginning the short play (performed by me and my colleague Yeauxlanda Kay) by calling out its title followed by "Go!" and ending it by calling "Curtain!"

This short reel was constructed as proof of concept for Autonomous, a piece about Brecht and self-driving cars that I'm developing with Mark Shepard. The piece was inspired by unexpected resonances between Brecht's street scene and weirdness around autonomous vehicles, but/also the text in the voice over includes part of a poem from Brecht's Lehrstück The Measures Taken.