Long-Running Late Night Show Goes From Stage to Screen (For Now)

WDCB’s Gary Zidek talks to Kirsten Riiber, the artistic director of the Neo-Futurists Theater, about the company’s efforts to engage audiences during the pandemic.

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WDCB's Gary Zidek talks to artistic director of the Neo-Futurists Theater, Kirsten Riiber.

“For a lot of us, this has been an opportunity for us to experiment with tools that we just hadn’t had the time or space for before, so we see it as an opportunity, another chapter in the Neo-Futurist’s story.” - Kirsten Riiber, artistic director of the Neo-Futurist Theater, talking about the experience of creating digital content out of necessity because of the pandemic.

The Neo-Futurist Theater’s artistic director & ensemble member Kirsten Riiber

Back in mid-March, a state order forced all Illinois theater companies to close their doors. The Neo Futurist Theater realized it wouldn’t be able to continue its long-running late night show, THE INFINITE WRENCH … in-person. But the company quickly came up with a plan to continue the weekly show, which features 30 new plays in 60 minutes, by presenting THE INFINITE WRENCH online. The new streaming version of the show, titled THE INFINITE WRENCH GOES VIRAL, still presents 30 plays in 60 minutes, except now people are watching the show from home.

The Neo-Futurist ensemble

Here’s a small taste of one of the digital plays featured in a recent edition of THE INFINITE WRENCH GOES VIRAL. Check out: RULES I’M BREAKING.

Music by: Erik Stanley WEBSITE: http://neofuturists.org/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheNeoFuturi... INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theneofutur....

According to the Neo-Futurist artistic director, THE INFINITE WRENCH GOES VIRAL is currently bringing in 50% of the production’s pre-COVID-19 revenue and the production has more than 650 weekly subscribers from Chicago & across the country.

You can find more information about THE INFINITE WRENCH GOES VIRAL by visiting neofuturists.org