Performing Neofuturism has been a life-affirming experience. I started working with UCI’s Neofuturist collective, Schrodinger’s Cast: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes, in 2017 during my sophomore year of college. Shortly after I became a leader in the company and served as Co-Captain for my junior and senior year.
The rules of Neofuturism are as follows: We are who we are, we are where we are, we are doing what we are doing, the time is now. Essentially, Neofuturism is a form of theater doesn’t buy into the suspension of disbelief. This allows performers to interact directly with the audience as themselves. The fun part, of course, comes with breaking and bending those rules or using them to our advantage. And yes we do, in fact, perform 30 plays (ranging from 1-2 min on average but often shorter or longer) in 60 minutes. We try to, at least. All plays are written by and performed by collective members and the audience “orders” plays by yelling out a number corresponding with a play title on their “menus.”
During my time with Schrodinger’s Cast, I reclaimed my Latinidad, worshiped a $2 plastic skull, wrote love letters to and from my own voice, wore a handmade paper phallus, and shared some of my most private and intimate thoughts and experiences through movement, poetry, and monologue.
One of the last pieces I performed, simply titled Out of Body after the Gorillaz song used in the video was performed in September 2020 as a part of a virtual, “throwback” edition of 30 Plays in 60 Minutes with UCI alumni from years past. It’s a piece I wanted to write for a long time but was never able to conceptualize and surprisingly, the pandemic gave me the opportunity to create and perform it in a way that wouldn’t be possible in live theater. You can click this link to watch it.