Will Too Much Light make the Apple be kind?

So, if the Neo-Futurists are known for putting on thirty plays in sixty minutes, how many plays would that be in a New York minute? The troupe behind the long-running hit "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind" (fifteen years, the best stamina of any Chicago show) is currently holding auditions for a Brooklyn hub to open early next year. A New York branch ran for awhile, headed by "Urinetown" guys Greg Kotis and Spencer Kayden, along with Kotis' wife Ayun Halliday, but even though the shows sold out for two years, they closed when the Broadway hit took off. Founder Greg Allen says that his role with the company has recently shifted from "artistic director" to "founding director," which is the catalyst for the New York branch. "My guiding mission is world domination," he half-jokes. For the "Too Much Light" at the Brooklyn Lyceum, they will hire an entire ensemble and train them to perform the show, but Allen says he's also received inquiries for rights to perform the show all over the country and abroad. The Neo-Futurists have also identified a potential space in Boston, Allen says, and are considering inquiries from companies in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland. Could the Neo-Futurists be the next Blue Man Group?

Bye Ricky

All three Hi Ricky restaurants have closed. The original of the chain of Asian eateries on North Avenue in Wicker Park closed two weeks ago, the Lakeview location shut down a month ago, and earlier this week was the last night of the West Loop Hi Ricky. Co-owner Casey Hoogstraten, who owns all of the buildings and opened up the North Avenue noodle shop eight years ago along with Richard Katz, says he just decided to sell the real estate. "In all three of those neighborhoods the real estate has appreciated tremendously," he says. "It was just a good opportunity to cash out, as they say."

Money quote

"It's like leaving a fortune to your goldfish," former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins says in a recent Wall Street Journal article of the multimillion dollars Poetry magazine was bequeathed, which has caused some commotion within the usually staid literary institution.

(2003-12-10)

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