The duration.
This is a statement I failed to make at the correct moment during an argument tonight. I then decided not to speak it aloud at all since it would no longer be productive, but I now write it down because it is something I feel strongly even out of the context that spawned it.
When I first saw Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind in 1995, I believe I paid an amount between $6-11.
When I saw Steppenwolf’s production of The Dazzle by Richard Greenberg, I paid something between $30 and $40.
TML is an hour long, not counting introduction and curtain speech and the unique experience of entering and navigating our rickety funhouse of a theater space.
The Dazzle ran about two hours, maybe a shade more.
Too Much Light quite literally changed my life, influencing my view of theatre to such a degree that I was obsessed with becoming a part of the show.
I barely remember a single moment from The Dazzle.
And my statement is that an hour-long show that changes your life is worth over twice the admission price of a two-hour show that you cannot remember later.
Running time, like age, ain’t nothing but a number.
Creative Control 