This book brings together 200 short (very short) plays from the New York production of the acclaimed cult theater hit "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind."

"Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind," created by Greg Allen, debuted in Chicago in December, 1988, and has been playing to sold out houses ever since. The show presents 30 plays in 60 minutes, 50 weeks a year, to a devoted following. The ensemble of writer-performers generates between 2 and 12 new plays each week, as dictated by a roll of the dice, creating a constantly changing menu of plays. The material runs the gamut of style, tone, and topic: musical, confession, agit-prop, poetic gesture, physical comedy, puppet theater, audience interrogation, folk song, sex joke, and many more. The plays are funny, moving, challenging, powerful, and occasionally just plain weird, but all within The Neo-Futurists' trademark non-illusory aesthetic. There is no "fourth wall" in "Too Much Light" — the show embraces the ideal that theater is created in the connection between audience and performer, in the two-way exchange of ideas, emotions, and energy, and in an honest exploration of everyday life. Randomness, dynamism, speed, brevity, and planned obsolescence are celebrated and exploited to engage and refresh participants on both sides of the theatrical equation.

In 1995, a New York ensemble was formed when three Chicago show alumni (including Greg Kotis, who would go on to win the 2001 Tony Award for penning the musical "Urinetown") moved to Manhattan. That incarnation of "Too Much Light" ran for two years. In 2004, a new NY ensemble was formed and the show has been running there since, playing to a young, culturally adventurous demographic, as well as more seasoned consumers of traditional theater.

The 200 plays in this volume, culled from the show's 5-year New York run, reflect the diversity of 35 past and current ensemble members and the multiplicity of viewpoints and voices they bring to the stage. The plays stand as an entertaining document of the New York show's history as well as ideal material for actor scene study, auditions, and competition presentations.