Midnight express

A MOTLEY CREW The 1987 Too Much Light cast mugs for the camera. Archival Photos Courtsey of the Neo-Futurists

“GOD, I HOPE THIS SHOW CLOSES SOON.”

Greg Allen, Neo-Futurist founder “There was no late-night theater at the time [when we started]. This was when Stage Left was just north of the corner of where the ‘Punkin’ Donuts’ is, at Belmont and Clark.”

Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader theater critic, 1987–present “I remember really early on running into Greg Allen when the show had been running for a year or two. He was unloading a trunk full of crap for Too Much Light, and he said, ‘God, I hope this show closes soon.’ ”

Spencer Kayden, ensemble member, 1990–95; Tony nominee for Urinetown “I had no aspirations. I was happy to be doing a show with friends, which is all I had ever done. Which is all I ever continued to do. Until suddenly the show I was doing went to Broadway, which was an accident.”

Diana Slickman, company member, 1993–2000; managing director 1994–2000 “The day that I thought, We need somebody to be kind of in charge, Scott Hermes was doing the books, and he said, ‘We don’t have any checks.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘We’ve run out of checks.’ ‘Well, didn’t somebody notice that and order checks?’ ‘No.’ ‘So we can’t get paid this week because we don’t have any checks?’ ‘Yes.’ And I thought, Um, I’m going to write a job description for managing director. Somebody who, when we ran out of toilet paper, was in charge of buying toilet paper.”

John Pierson, ensemble member, 1996–present (a.k.a. “Jughead,” guitarist for seminal punk band Screeching Weasel) “When I joined the cast, Slickman was in a tiny, little, teeny closet. We didn’t have the office that we have now. The merchandise closet was our office.”

NEXT>>