So many plays, such little time: New York Neo-Futurists bring ‘The Infinite Wrench’ to Grinnell

On Nov. 1, alumni Rob Neill `91 returned to Grinnell with the New York Neo-Futurist Theatre Group to perform “The Infinite Wrench,” an intense and interactive performance where performers attempt to perform 30 plays in the span of one hour.

Neo-Futurists Robin Virginie, Kyra Sims, Rob Neill, Jake Banasiewicz and Lee LeBreton performed “The Infinite Wrench” at Sebring-Lewis Hall, with Ryan Juda as technical collaborator for the performance.

Neill, a Grinnell alumnus and Neo-Futurist since 1995, describes “The Infinite Wrench” as “chaos, or organized chaos.” “If you’ve seen the show once, you’ve seen the show once, because it’s different every time,” Neill said. The Neo-Futurist Theater’s website describes the performance as an “ever-changing attempt to shift the conventions of live performance and speak to audiences including those unreached or unmoved by traditional theater,” where plays are “inspired by the lived experiences of the performers.”

Infinite Wrench performers present peppers to audience members in Sebring-Lewis Hall. (Owen Barbato)

The performance began before a single play had started. As audience members filed into Sebring-Lewis Hall to view the performance, they were greeted, asked for their names and given a name tag with a random noun or phrase. Audience members were referred to by these names on their name tags throughout the performance.

The performance did not follow the traditional conventions of theater. Many of the plays involved minimal dialogue, but major audience participation. The performance often blurred the lines between the stage and the audience, with performers interacting with the audience and audience members encouraged to come onstage.

The audience was also involved in deciding the order of the plays themselves. Audience members received a pamphlet listing 30 plays and their titles to be performed that night, and were encouraged to shout out the number of the play they wished to see upon hearing the word “curtain”.

Kyra Sims (left) and Lee Lebreton (right) don deer masks at Sebring-Lewis Hall. (Owen Barbato)

As each play was selected, a corresponding sheet of paper was removed from a clothesline with 30 sheets of paper, which dangled down to spell “SO MANY PLAYS SUCH LITTLE TIME.” By the end of the performance, every sheet of paper had been removed, leaving a bare clothesline.

A key part of the performance was the “wrench.” If, instead of calling out a number, audience members called out the word “wrench,” a new element would be introduced to the performance to change it up in some manner.

In the first wrench, at the end of the performance, an audience member with the name tag “IOWAsca” was given the ability to increase the time of the performance, in this case by four minutes. In the second wrench, one of the performers was a “wet willy assassin,” tasked with giving another unsuspecting performer a wet willy at some point in the performance.

Plays varied in length, with some being roughly 30 seconds and some lasting several minutes. Lighting played a major role in directing the eye of the audience, and a projector screen placed above the stage contributed to the performance. 

The plays themselves had little to no continuity, but the stage itself introduced a sense of continuity as props from previous plays remained onstage due to the fast-paced nature of the performance. For example, the first play, which involved pouring a bucket of Lego over two performers under an umbrella, resulted in performers having to sweep Lego out of the way between plays.

Plays varied from dance numbers to monologues to silent performances. Memorable plays included a karaoke rendition of a Google-translated version of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club,” a choose-your-own-adventure quest involving an audience member, an abstracted version of an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants and a chaotic woodwind rendition of Beethoven’s Ode To Joy in the key of G by members of the audience.

The hour ended with three and a half plays left, before the IOWAsca wrench extended the time for the performance by four minutes. In the end, the performance ended for good right before the last play ended.

The dynamic, unpredictable and often deeply personal performance will continue to be performed in different locations throughout the country.

Rob Neill `91 emerges from fog as performers dance in Sebring-Lewis Hall on Nov. 1. (Owen Barbato)