Do the Light thing

Photo: Erica Gannett

1. Get there early. By 10:30pm on Fridays and even earlier on Saturdays, the line will have stretched around the corner onto Foster Avenue. If waiting in line is your least favorite thing in the world, hit the 7pm Sunday show, where you can usually walk right in. At the door, you’ll be handed a token. Hang on to it.

2. Bring cash. At least $13; the Neos don’t take credit cards.

3. Visit the State Park. That’s the lobby-slash-holding pen, where audience members mill about until the house opens. You’ll want to hang out by the theater doors at the far end of the room, so when they do open, you’ll be in position to get great seats.

4. Roll the die. Now it’s time to pay. You’ll exchange your token for a chance to roll a die to determine your price: It’s seven bucks plus whatever you roll, so anywhere from $8–$13.

5. Bring an appetite. When the show sells out, a cast member calls up Konak Pizza and Grill (5150 N Clark St, 773-271-6688) around the corner and orders a pizza on speakerphone. The ritual began with the first sold-out performance in 1989.

6. Enjoy the show. The string of numbers, 1 to 30, hanging from the ceiling corresponds to the plays listed in your program. The cast will ask audience members to shout the number of the play they want to see. Generally, this is the most you’ll be asked to participate, but play it safe: If you don’t want to find yourself onstage, don’t sit in the front row.

See “A Christmas peril,” for a preview of the Neo-Futurists’ holiday show.

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