Today, Greg Allen announced that he is pulling the rights for the Chicago Neo-Futurists to perform the longest-running late-night show in the city’s history, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind.
He cites the Trump election as his “aha” moment, but I would argue that beyond the fact that Greg Allen never seems to have had an “aha” moment, the parallels between he and the president elect are stupefying on a fundamental level.
I joined The Neo-Futurists’ Chicago ensemble in June of 2008. It was my first industry job out of college and I really honestly thought it was a joke that I’d even been cast. I first saw Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind in 2005, as a student at Columbia College Chicago, and while I instantly felt it was the only thing I wanted to do creatively, I never thought they would actually let me do it. But they did. Why? Because they are the kindest, most supportive group of artists you could ever imagine. They are generous beyond words with their individual talents and personal narrative and, most especially, their hearts. I do not extend that praise to the company’s founder.
As a young woman joining the company, it seemed that foremost on almost everyone’s mind was not only teaching me how to be a member of the company, but how also to protect myself from Greg Allen. By this point he was notorious for a litany of antics, chief among them behaviors that diminished and marginalized female members of the company going back as far as anyone in my time there could remember. Out of respect and what I later came to understand as fear, senior company members were protective of individual names or private detail, but it was made very clear that if any advances were made to sabotage me or my work, I should know that everyone would have my back.
Every institution has stories. We’ve seen them flow from the silent recesses of victim shame quite a bit over the past year. While the experiences are deeply disturbing, what is even more disturbing is that nearly all of them are perpetuated by white cis men of power within their given community and it becomes the business of everyone to protect said men in power in order to protect not only themselves, but also the organizations they represent. Often speaking up leads to implosion.
I find it very hard to believe that Greg Allen’s decision to pull the rights to Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind is in any way related to the Trump presidency. As a former Artistic Director of The Neo-Futurists, I can tell you that this threat has loomed since the end of 2011, when Greg was democratically removed from the active ensemble.
This decision to suspend Greg from the active ensemble was emotional and painful for everyone in the company – for Greg, the ensemble, and the Board of Directors. Greg’s suspension was the result of repeated behaviors of abuse, harassment, and disrespect that had plagued the ever-changing ensemble for years. There were plenty of transgressions warranting suspension in the past, but as the company had no formal harassment policy (one of those things you think you don’t need until you need it), it was always one person’s word against his. There was no structure for recourse, until Greg acted out in front of the entire active company and everyone was able to say once and for all – “This is wrong, and it happened to me, too.”
It is important to note that when terminating Greg’s “active” ensemble status came to pass with a full vote of consensus, it was a year-long suspension. The ensemble told him that no public statements would be made and that if anyone ever inquired about his absence from Too Much Light, we would not mention the suspension. We did this out of respect to his reputation and for his years of service to the company. This was not banishment; this was a necessary, disciplinary suspension for the health of the company at large. After a year (which would have been January 2013), Greg was free to petition his return to the ensemble. He never petitioned.
Greg’s letter to the press announcing his intention to pull the rights to Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind cites fascism and the Trump presidency as inspiration for his decision. He also says that he intends to, quote, “rebrand the show with a new diverse ensemble that embraces a specifically socially activist mission” with an ensemble that “will be comprised entirely of people of color, LBTQ+, artist/activist women, and other disenfranchised voices in order to combat the tyranny of censorship and oppression.” At every turn I find these statements misleading, exploitative, and dishonest – sentiments in direct opposition to the tenets of Neo-Futurism founded by Greg and his original company that continue to be upheld by the bright and dedicated members of the company today.
A few facts that I would like to share, as they do question the declared intention of Allen’s actions:
1. As of November 30th, 2016, the active Chicago Neo-Futurist ensemble is comprised almost entirely of artists who identify as queer and gender non-conforming, people of color, artist/activist women and disenfranchised voices.
2. The specific incident that lead to Greg’s suspension in January 2012 was best described as bullying, intimidation, and abuse of power. He tried, against policy, to eject from the show a piece of personal work on the subject of child abuse, written by a survivor of child abuse, because he found it “personally offensive.” He then walked out of a rehearsal and refused to perform in the show if it contained this material, which had already been publicly produced.
3. In the summer of 2012, The Neo-Futurists raised $5,439.65 for support for the UCAN LGBTQ Host Home program[1], which provided housing and support to queer youth in Chicago. In order to maximize proceeds, most organizers and members of the performing ensemble voluntarily wave their pay. As the license holder of Too Much Light, Greg was entitled to 6% royalties for any performance of the show, regardless of whether he contributed work or not. Every year prior to 2012, he had waved his royalties in the same spirit as those creating and performing the art. In 2012, the same year he was suspended from the active ensemble but still the company’s salaried Founding Director, he chose to withhold his royalties, totaling $461.78.
In revoking the rights to the Chicago Neo-Futurists’ flagship show, Greg Allen directly revokes employment opportunities from the very demographic he claims to be so passionate about employing.
I left The Neo-Futurists and the Artistic Director position in January 2014 when I relocated from Chicago to Los Angeles. Since that time and even before, the question of whether or not Greg would pull his rights to the show has loomed over the company, which continues to thrive with passionate new ensemble, staff, and board members. My personal growth and subsequent professional opportunities are due almost entirely my experience as a Chicago Neo-Futurist. They taught me how to be an artist, a leader, and a compassionate collaborator. The Neo-Futurists are still my closest friends, and every time I go back to Chicago to see their work it never ceases to surprise me. Still bold, diverse, risky, and – without question – highly political. For Greg to question the integrity of the current ensemble’s work suggests to me that it’s been awhile since he’s seen it. I saw it just last week and, like I said, I live in Los Angeles. Greg Allen, as far as I know, still lives in Evanston.
Thank you to the Chicago community who has always so whole-heartedly supported The Neo-Futurists. Thank you for coming to our shows, for taking our classes, for bringing friends and family to wait in our long, late-night lines all year round, for volunteering your time and resources. You are the best people a theater company could ever hope for.
Megan Mercier
Former Neo-Futurist ensemble member (2009 – 2014)
Artistic Director (2012 – 2014)
[1] UCAN LGBTQ Host Home Program seems to have transitioned into a division of Chicago House some time around 2013, although I no longer live in Chicago and cannot say for sure.
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