Founder of Neo-Futurism
Curriculum Vitae
GREG ALLEN
Curriculum Vitae
1417 Kirk St. Cell: (773) 330-2080
Evanston, IL 60202 Home: (847) 491-9174
E-Mail: NEOFUT@gmail.com
____________________________________________________________
EDUCATION
Oberlin College
Bachelor of Arts 1984 – English with a Concentration in Theater
National Theater Institute at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
Certificate, Fall, 1985
Continuing education at Harvard University, Columbia College, The Art Institute of Boston, and Depaul University.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Chicago:
Text and Performance: King Lear
Advanced Acting Technique: Neo-Futurism
Intermediate Playwriting
Performance Art
Lecturer in Theater and Performance Studies, Creative Writing, and Department of Visual Arts Undergraduate Programs
Nineteen quarters from Spring 2003 to the present
Depaul University, The Theatre School:
Graduate Acting III: Company Creation
Alternative Playwriting
Directing Advisor: MFA III Directing Project
Adjunct Professor in the Undergraduate and MFA Programs
Eighteen quarters from Fall 2009 to 2022
Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford Connecticut:
Neo-Futurism
Guest Artist at the National Theater Institute and Theatermakers Programs
Fourteen residencies from August 2010 to the present
Columbia College Chicago:
Styles and Crafts I: The Greeks to The Restoration
Styles and Crafts II: 18th and 19th Century
Styles and Crafts III: 20th Century
Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop
Adjunct Professor in Theatre – Fine and Performance Arts Department
Ten semesters from Fall1993 to Spring1998
The Neo-Futurist Theaters in Chicago, New York, Montreal, San Francisco, London, and Detroit:
Master Class in Neo-Futurism / Neo-Futurist Performance Workshop
Neo-Futurism II: Collaborative Performance / Advanced Neo-Futurist Workshop
Neo-Futurism III: Site-Specific Performance, Environmental Staging and Invisible Theater
Over 50 six or eight-week workshops from 1992 to the present
Guest Residencies at Universities and Theater Programs:
Addison Trail High School, Addison, Illinois: March – April, 2023
University of Houston, Texas: February, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023
BAK School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, Florida: March 2022
Academy of Arts and Academics, Springfield Oregon: January, 2019
Matrix Theater, Detroit Michigan: Summer, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020
Buffalo Grove High School, Illinois: October, 2018
Addison Trail High School, Illinois: April, 2017
Shenandoah University Conservatory, Lancaster Virginia: February – April, 2017
Transylvania University, Lexington Kentucky: January – February, 2017
John Hersey High School, Arlington Heights, Illinois: December, 2016
Latin School of Chicago: September – December, 2016
University of Colorado, Boulder: February, 2015
Theater Development Fund, New York City: October, 2014
Brown University, Providence Rhode Island: May, 2014
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan: October, 2012
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Washington: September, 2012
University of Iowa, Iowa City Iowa: August, 2012
University of Wisconsin, Wausau Wisconsin: September, 2011
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Apprentice Program: August, 2011
Truman State University, Kirksville Missouri: March, 2010
Loyola Academy, Wilmette Illinois: January, 2010
Rhodes College, Memphis Tennessee: September, 2009
Oberlin College, Ohio: March, 2009
Walter Payton College Prep, Chicago: September through December, 2008
Les Neos from Montreal, Quebec in Chicago: May, 2008
Le Theatre de L’Opsis, Montreal, Quebec: September, 2007
State University of New York, Freedonia: March, 2007
Lake Forest College: February, 2007
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Apprentice Program: October, 2006
Lowell Comedy Festival, Lowell Massachusetts: June, 2006
University of Houston Mitchell Center: April, 2006
Second City Chicago: October through December, 2005
Columbia College Chicago: October, 2005
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Apprentice Program: August, 2005
Lexington Shakespeare Institute, Lexington, Kentucky: July, 2005
University of Massachusetts at Amherst: February, 2005
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Apprentice Program: March, 2002
Chicago Children’s Museum:
Creative Dramatics
Puppetry
Guest Artist
Fall 1991 through Fall 1992
Oberlin Experimental College, Ohio:
Samuel Beckett: From Analysis To Performance
Shakespeare on Film
Student Teacher
Fall Semester, 1983 and Spring Semester, 1984
Guest Lecturer:
Association for Theater in Higher Education (multiple conferences), International Museum Theatre Alliance, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of the Incarnate Word (Texas), University of Iowa, Depaul University, FNR International Radio Conference (Moscow Russia), Directors Lab Chicago, Columbia College, Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Illinois Institute of Design, Wesleyan University, Oberlin College, National Public Radio’s “Third Coast Festival”, Adaptive Path Designers Conference (San Francisco), Theater Development Fund (New York), Reality Theater Company, Modern Language Association, New Trier High School Literary Festivals (annually), Chicago Public School Teachers Conference, Associated Colleges of the Midwest Chicago Arts Program, League of Chicago Theaters, Performing Arts Chicago, Brown University, Duke University, International Museum Theater Alliance, and numerous schools and theaters across the country (full list available upon request).
THEATER EXPERIENCE
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go ZOOM!
(30 Pandemic Plays in 60 Covid Minutes)
Writer, Director, and Performer
The UnTheatre Company, Detroit: November, 2020 to present
The Interview
Writer, Director, and Performer
Cluck Cluck Cabaret, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: May, 2021
Buried Alive with Edgar Allan Poe
Writer & Director
Figurteateret, Stamsund Norway: June, 2017 – June, 2018
What We Talk About When We Talk About Talking
Writer, Director, and Performer
Cluck Cluck Cabaret, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: August, 2018
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes)
Creator/Director
The UnTheatre Company, Detroit: October 6, 2017 to present
The Brotherhood of the Monastic Order of Ancient Mariners Purge the Ills of Society Through A Reading of the Tales of “Moby-Dick”
Director/Co-Writer/Adaptor
Festival Mondial de Marionettes de Charleville-Mezieres, France: September, 2017
The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen
Playwright
Commonweal Theatre, Lanesboro, Minnesota: April – May, 2017
The Bodies Will: Fill, Drink, or Pour
Director
Arena Stage, Washington D.C.: April, 2017
True Truths, Untruths, Post-Truths, and the Trueness of Truthyism
Writer, Director, and Performer
Rhinoceros Theater Festival: February, 2017
Kick the Klown presents A Konkatenation of Kafka
Writer and Director with Michael Montenegro
The Chicago International Puppet Festival, Chicago Illinois: January, 2017
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes)
Creator, Writer, Director, and Performer
Chicago, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Rochester, Louisville, Houston, Washington D.C., Providence, Aspen, Edinburgh Scotland, Sibiu Romania, Rome Italy, Tokyo Japan, Dar Es Salaam Tanzania, and over 100 productions all over the world annually
December 1988 to the present
Hillary! (the musical)
Co-Writer
Prop Thtr, Chicago Illinois: September – November, 2016
A Separate Peace by Tom Stoppard
Director
Stone Hearth Theatre, Chicago Illinois: September, 2016
The Brotherhood of the Monastic Order of Ancient Mariners Purge the Ills of Society Through A Reading of the Tales of “Moby-Dick”
Director/Co-Writer/Adaptor
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Illinois: March, 2016
Moss Arts Center, Blacksburg Virginia: January, 2016
Ibsen’s Ghosts
Writer/Adaptor and Director
Mary-Arrchie Theater: November – December, 2015
Another Part of the Forest by Lillian Hellman
Director (Staged Reading)
Goodman Theatre: May, 2015
Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
Assistant Director
Goodman Theatre: May – June, 2015
Title
Screenplay
Hazart Films (with Annabeth Gish): 2015
Neverlanding: An Interactive Investigation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan
Devisor and Director
Theater of the Living Room
Rhinoceros Theater Festival: January – February, 2015
Alice
Director of Street Performance
Upended Productions
The Neo-Futurarium: September – November, 2014
Plato’s Symposium by Benno Nelson
Director, Performer
City Lit Theater’s Adaptation Festival: June, 2014
Mr. Science Demonstrates King Lear
Writer, Director, Performer
Pivot Arts Festival: June, 2014
Celebration of Nate!
Writer, Director and Performer (in collaboration with a 17 year-old gay teen with Down Syndrome)
The Neo-Futurarium: May 2014
What Happened in Pinkville? A Cubist Dialectic on the Massacre at My Lai
Commissioned Playwright for MFA show
Depaul University: May, 2014
Dance of Death by August Strindberg, Adapted by Connor McPherson
Assistant Director to Henry Wishcamper
Writer’s Theater, Glencoe: April – August, 2014
Blasted Fool by Ravi Batista
Director and Co-Deviser
Soul Theatre at Theater Wit: November – December, 2013
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes)
Creator and Founding Director
The Cable Car Theater, SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts
The San Francisco Neo-Futurists: December, 2013 – December, 2016
Sleeping with the Prince of Darkness: The Imagined Pillow-Talk of FBI Agent
John O’Neill
Commissioned Playwright
Member of Goodman Theatre’s 2012-2013 Playwright’s Unit
The Thief and His Master
Playwright
First Floor Theater’s Grimmfest: May, 2013
Me America
Playwright and Performer
Commissioned for Centerstage “My America” project and filmed by Hal Hartley
Centerstage in Baltimore Maryland: 2012
Released as the feature film “My America” directed by Hal Hartley: 2013
Performed live in the Rhinoceros Theater Festival: February, 2014
Eating Yourself
Writer, Director, and Performer with Joe Mazza
Pivot Arts Festival: May, 2012
The Strange and Terrible True Tale of Pinocchio (the Wooden Boy) As Told By Frankenstein’s Monster (the Wretched Creature)
Writer and Director
The Neo-Futurists: March – April, 2012
DIALogues
Performer
Links Hall with T. J. Jagodowski: October, 2010
Museum of Contemporary Art: March, 2011
K.
Writer and Director
The Hypocrites at the Chopin Theatre: October – November, 2010
A Few More Complete Last Lost Works of Samuel Beckett As Found Even Deeper In The Envelope (partially burned) In A Dustbin In Paris Labeled
“Never to be performed. Never. Ever. EVER! Or I’ll Sue! I’LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE!!!”
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Danny Thompson
Chicago Humanities Festival: November, 2009
The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett As Found In An Envelope (partially burned) In A Dustbin In Paris Labeled: “Never to be performed. Never. Ever. EVER! Or I’ll Sue! I’LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE!!!”
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Danny Thompson and Ben Schneider
Rhinoceros Theater Festival: September, 2000
Curious Theater Branch: November – December, 2000
Phantom Theater in Warren, Vermont: July, 2001
New York International Fringe Theater Festival: August, 2001
Present Company in New York City: January – February, 2001
Edinburgh Fringe Theater Festival in Scotland: August – September, 2002
Riverside Studio in London, England: February – March, 2003
UK Tour (Dublin, Brighton, Bath, etc.): March – May, 2003
Translated into German for European Tour: 2004
New York International Fringe Theater Festival Alumni Show: August 2007
Steppenwolf Garage Theatre: May, 2010
I AM A CAMERA
Writer and Director
The Neo-Futurists: February – March, 2010
Naked Killer by Jing Wong
Director and Performer
Staged Reading in It Came from the Neo-Futurarium Festival
The Neo-Futurists: July, 2009
Object Theater Festival
Writer, Director, and Performer
The Building Stage: March, 2009
Strange Interlude by Eugene O’Neill
Director and Adaptor
“A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century” Festival
The Goodman Theatre: March, 2009
The Cross and the Switchblade by Don Murray and James Bonnet
Director and Performer
Staged Reading in It Came from the Neo-Futurarium Festival
The Neo-Futurists: July, 2008
Too Much Light Kids!
Creator, Writer, Director, and Performer
The Neo-Futurarium: October – December, 2004
Performing Arts Chicago Edge Festival: March, 2005
The Neo-Futurarium: April – June, 2005
Theater on the Lake: July, 2008
Hackneyed in “Sketchbook 2008 Festival”
Playwright
Collaboraction at The Steppenwolf Garage Theatre: May – June, 2008
Parkersburg by Laura Jacqmin in “Sketchbook 2008 Festival”
Director
Collaboraction at The Steppenwolf Garage Theatre: May – June, 2008
Mr. Fluxus
Writer, Director, and Performer
The Neo-Futurists: November – December, 2007
Spirits to Enforce by Mickle Maher
Director (Staged Reading)
The Goodman Theatre’s “New Stages Festival”: September, 2007
The Ball, The Circle, The Tangent
Writer, Director, and Performer
The Dollar Store at The Hideout, Chicago: June, 2007
365 Play Project by Suzan-Lori Parks
Director and Performer
The Neo-Futurists and Chicago Cultural Center: February and June, 2007
You Asked For It! (America’s Most-Wanted and Least-Wanted Plays)
Writer and Director
The Neo-Futurists: January – March, 2007
Woyzeck by Georg Buchner
Adaptor and Director
Greasy Joan and Company at Live Bait Theater: November – December, 2006
The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen
Writer and Director
The Neo-Futurists: January – March, 2005
New York International Fringe Theater Festival: August, 2005
Northlight Theatre, Skokie: September, 2006
Unperceivable perception a contradiction #347: Reading Berkeley at the U of C by Steve Peterson
Director
Rhinoceros Theater Festival: September – October, 2006
A Child’s History of Bombing
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Donovan Sherman
The Neo-Futurists: January – March, 2006
Uncle Sam’s Satiric Spectacular: On Democracy and Other Fictions Featuring Patriotism Acts and Blue Songs from a Red State
Head-Writer with Sheila Callaghan, Bridget Carpenter, Eric Coble, Richard Dresser, Hilly Hicks, and Michael Friedman
Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival: March – April, 2005
New York International Fringe Festival: August, 2005
Revenge of the Book Death Camp, or The Books That Changed My Life
Writer and Performer
Second Story Theater: March, 2005
The Neo-Futurist Project
Creator and Director
University of Massachusetts, Amherst: March, 2005
Alice
Director of Street Performance
The Neo-Futurists: September – October, 2004
Between East and West by Richard Nelson
Director – Staged Reading
The Chicago Peace Museum: September, 2004
I Don’t Drink
Writer, Director, and Performer
Links Hall Chance Dance Festival: June, 2003
Curious Theater Rhinoceros Festival: September, 2004
Demetrius and the Gladiators by Phillip Dunne
Director and Performer
Staged Reading in It Came from the Neo-Futurarium Festival
The Neo-Futurists: July, 2004
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes)
Creator, Founding Director, and periodic Director, Writer, and Performer
The Brooklyn Lyceum, The Belt Theater, Cherry Lane, and The Kraine Theater
The New York Neo-Futurists: April 2, 2004 to the present
evidence
Writer and Director
The Neo-Futurists: March – April, 2004
Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious
Writer, Director, and Performer
The Neo-Futurists: November – December, 2000
The Neo-Futurists: June – July, 2001
Stage Direct Video Release: December, 2001
New York International Fringe Theater Festival: August, 2003
Title
Writer, Director, and Performer
WNPR’s This American Life: July, 2003
H20
Writer, Director, and Performer
The Neo-Futurists: November – December, 2001
Theater on the Lake: July, 2003
A Hundred Boats Sinking Except One
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Nicole Burgund
Chicago Improv Festival: May, 2003
The Grapes of Khan
Writer, Director, and Performer
Steppenwolf Garage Theater’s Love & Sin Project: July, 2002
Performing Arts Chicago Edge Festival: March, 2003
A Duchampian Romp, even
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with John Pierson
The Neo-Futurists: January – February, 2003
New Moon Vaudeville
Writer, Director, and Performer
Curious Theater Branch at The Lunar Cabaret: February, 2003
Django by Sergio & Bruno Corbucci
Director and Performer
Staged Reading in It Came from the Neo-Futurarium Festival
The Neo-Futurists: July, 2002
Subliminable
Writer, Director, and Performer
Actors Theatre of Louisville’s 2001 Humana Festival: Spring, 2001
Lear’s Shadow
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Jeffrey Essmann and Karen Christopher
The Neo-Futurists: Spring, 2000
Boxing Joseph Cornell
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Connor Kalista
The Neo-Futurists: Spring, 1999
The Neo-Futurists: Fall, 1999
Chicago Arts Club: Fall, 1999
The True Dreams of Annie Arbor by John Roberts
Director
The Neo-Futurists: Fall, 1998
Crime & Punishment: A (mis)Guided Environmental Tour with Literary Pretensions
Co-Writer, Director, and Performer with Connor Kalista
The Neo-Futurists: Spring – Summer, 1998
My Father, The Chair
Writer, Director, and Performer
Bailiwick’s Naked i Festival and The Rhino In Winter Festival – Chicago
Part of Quadruped –The Neo-Futurists, Chicago
Art Attack Festival – Vickers Theater, Three Oaks, Michigan
New York International Fringe Festival & The Rat Festival – NYC
Northwestern University Performance Festival – Evanston, IL
1997 – 1999
K.
Writer and Director
The Neo-Futurists: Fall, 1996 – Winter, 1997
Theater On The Lake: Summer, 1997
New York International Fringe Theater Festival: Summer, 1997
The Neo-Futurist Revenger’s Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur
Director and Adaptor
The Neo-Futurists: Fall, 1994
Buckets O’ Beckett Festivals
Guest Director and Adaptor
The Splinter Group 1993 – 1995
Seventy Scenes of Halloween by Jeffrey Jones
Director
The Neo-Futurists: Fall, 1993
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Chicago Theater Hall of Fame
New City Newspaper, “Founder of Neo-Futurism” Inducted 2021
National Playwright’s Conference Finalist 2015
What Happened in Pinkville? A Cubist Dialectic on the Massacre at My Lai
Eugene O’Neill Center, Waterford Connecticut
2015 Blue Ink Playwriting Award Runner-Up
What Happened in Pinkville? A Cubist Dialectic on the Massacre at My Lai
American Blues Theater, Chicago Illinois
National Endowment for the Arts Grant 2010
I AM A CAMERA
“Chicago Theater’s 50 Leading Characters”
New City Newspaper 2010
Special Acknowledgement: Goodman Theatre’s A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century (specifying Strange Interlude)
2009 Chicago Orgie Theatre Awards
Award for Artistic Direction
2008 Chicago Orgie Theatre Awards
National Endowment for the Arts Grant 2007
You Asked For It!
Selected as one of ten “Best of the Decade” Productions
New York International Fringe Festival 2006
The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett…
New York Innovative Theatre Award 2006
Outstanding Performance Art Production
“Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind”
National Endowment for the Arts Grant 2005
The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen
National Endowment for the Arts Grant 2004
A Child’s History of Bombing
“Chicago Theater’s 50 Leading Characters”
New City Newspaper 2004
National Endowment for the Arts Grant 2003
evidence
“Chicago Theater’s 50 Leading Characters”
New City Newspaper 2003
“Chicago Theater’s 50 Leading Characters”
New City Newspaper 2002
Overall Excellence Award in Comedy
The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett As Found In An Envelope (partially burned) In A Dustbin In Paris Labeled: “Never to be performed. Never. Ever. EVER! Or I’ll Sue! I’LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE!!!”
New York International Fringe Theater Festival 2000
Fringe First Award
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind
Edinburgh Fringe Theater Festival 2000
“Chicago Theater’s 50 Leading Characters”
New City Newspaper 1998
After Dark Award for Outstanding New Work
K.
Gay Chicago Magazine 1997
Best Director Award
K.
New York International Fringe Theater Festival 1997
“50 Most Influential People in Chicago Theater”
Chicago Magazine 1994
After Dark Hall of Fame Award
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind
Gay Chicago Magazine 1994
(Reviews and critical recognition available upon request.)
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE
Founding Director
The Neo-Futurists
October, 2003 – September, 2016
Artistic Director
The Neo-Futurists
December, 1988 – October, 2003
Production Assistant and Assistant Director
Remains Theater
1987 – 1988
Literary Manager
Organic Theater Company
1986 – 1987
Assistant Casting Director
Wisdom Bridge Theater
1986 – 1987
PUBLICATIONS
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind: 90 Plays from the First 25 Years
Published by Playscripts 2015
The Contemporary Ensemble: Interviews with Theatre-Makers
Transcript of interview with Duska Radosavljevic
Routledge Press 2013
225 Neo-Futurist Plays from “Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30
Plays in 60 Minutes)” (Introduction)
Published by Hope and Nonthings Press 2011
The New York Neo-Futurists’ Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind ACTION COMICS (Illustrator)
Published by The New York Neo-Futurists 2010
Uncle Sam’s Satiric Spectacular: On Democracy and Other Fictions Featuring Patriotism Acts and Blue Songs from a Red State
Published by Playscripts 2007
Humana Festival 2005: The Complete Plays
Uncle Sam’s Satiric Spectacular…
Published by Broadway Play Publishing 2007
Otium Magazine
Writing As It Is Being Written
University of Chicago 2005
200 More Neo-Futurist Plays from “Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes)”
Published by Hope & Nonthings Press 2004
Neo-Solo: 131 Neo-Futurist Solo Plays from “Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes)”
Published by Hope & Nonthings Press 2002
Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays
Subliminable
Published by Smith and Krauss 2001
100 Neo-Futurist Plays from “Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays In 60 Minutes”)
Published by Chicago Plays 1993
Reprinted by Hope & Nonthings Press 2000 & 2011
(Articles and plays in periodicals available upon request.)
About Greg
Founding director of the Neo-Futurists, Greg Allen has taught writing, theater, and performance at the University of Chicago, the Actors Theater of Louisville, and Depaul University. More »
