San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
NeoFuturists stretch out with ‘The Program’
The San Francisco NeoFuturists frequently make plays that last no longer than a breath — a quick sight gag, a flash on and off.
In normal times, the 8yearold ensemble’s shtick is to perform 30 short plays in 60 minutes. Now, members Ezra Reaves and Amy Langer have created the troupe’s longest offering yet: a 45minute piece called “The Program,” performed entirely over the phone.
The show speaks to the acute alienation of our time, when the voices of corporate robots might supply the only interaction we get all day.
The conceit is akin to that of 600 Highwaymen’s “A Thousand Ways,” in which an automated operator guides two human callers through conversation. With “The Program,” too, Reaves and Langer hint that a real, live human eventually disrupts the proceedings.
“The Program”: Shows every 15 minutes 5 to 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, May 14-15, and 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday, May 16. Through May 31. $35. www.sfneofuturists.org/ theprogram