NOW PLAYING: HOLE
The SF Neo-Futurists take to the beach for a brand new full-length show
Known for their long-running weekly show The Infinite Wrench and part of the experimental theatre movement that was founded in Chicago in the 1980’s, the SF Neo-Futurists have spun up a new full-length show that takes place out at the beach and involves digging a hole in the ground.
Neo-Futurism’s whole thing is “non-illusory, interactive performance,” so when they say “HOLE asks the audience: What needs to be done for you to take up the shovel?” they mean “What needs to be done for you to take up the shovel?”
We checked in with Amy Langer, the co-writer/director of HOLE, and founding ensemble member of SF Neo-Futurists, about the new show, which opens this weekend and runs through September 21st.
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NO PROSCENIUM: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?
Amy Langer: HOLE is an outdoor play that revolves around the act of literally digging a large hole in the ground at the beach. Using the task as a jumping-off point, the performance explores themes of obsession, exhaustion, community, desire, and the strange predominance of hole-digging in pop culture.
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The San Francisco Neo-Futurists are an ensemble dedicated to non-illusory theater, meaning that we don’t ask the audience to suspend their disbelief. The audience is, instead, invited to be an active participant in the play. We don’t want to give too much away, but HOLE asks the audience: What needs to be done for you to take up the shovel?
NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?
AL: The idea came about through an off-handed conversation between SF Neo ensemble members Bahaar Taj and Amy Langer about possible team-building activities during a company retreat in 2023. From there, they both grew first jokingly and then seriously obsessed with the thought of digging a big hole (an obsession examined through similar pop culture hole-digging compulsions in the play itself). Since writing the piece, they have been inspired by a 70s land art, maintenance art, and contemporary gatherings like Hole Party.
NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?
AL: HOLE is performed in a completely public setting. The San Francisco Neo-Futurists’ regular weekly show — The Infinite Wrench — already embraces manufactured chaos, so it’s been delightful to embrace the surprises that come with giving up theatrical control. During work-in-progress performances, we delivered serious monologues while a raucous intramural volleyball tournament was happening just down the shore. We had folks stop to watch for a few moments from the boardwalk. The fog became an active participant in the set design. Every show is truly a unique adventure that we cannot fully control, which led to beautiful moments of contrast and serendipity.
NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?
AL: We were amazed by how many people wanted to dig a hole! We expected folks to be curious, but it turns out we weren’t the only ones to become easily obsessed with the desire to dig. Will the audiences for the full run feel the same way? Have we figured out our liability waivers? Only one way for you to find out…
NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?
AL: Rewatch Garden State and find your own big hole in the ground to scream into.
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