Angela Neff
Angela has worked the equity waiver circuit in Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Beached is her third solo-play. Her second, A Picnic at the Asylum played to rave reviews across the country. She is looking forward to her migration South again this June for the LA Fringe.
REVIEWS
Washington DC
DCist
http://tinyurl.com/DCFringe
Show Biz Radio
http://tinyurl.com/DCFringe-shpwbiz
Los Angeles
Los Angeles Theater Review
http://tinyurl.com/LAFringe
Hollywood Fringe Festival
http://tinyurl.com/LAFringe2
Los Angeles Theater Review
http://tinyurl.com/LAFringe3
Phoenix
Editor’s Pick
http://tinyurl.com/livingfringe
A Picnic at the Asylum
Dramedy Written and performed by Angela Neff
Developed with David Ford, Directed by Mark Kenward
LATR calls Picnic at the Asylum Pitch perfect. A fringe hit. Neff’s stage presence alone is reason enough to see…comedic & compelling. http://tinyurl.com/HFFHIT
A young woman struggles to come of age as the dark spiral of bi-polar illness takes over her once-idolized father’s life, landing him a manic vagabond street preacher on Phoenix’s skid row. Picnics is a 15 character solo play of his vibrant and tragic life.
http://www.picnicsattheasylum.com
“Picnics” is humorous, intensely powerful and heart-breakingly profound. Neff’s performance style oozes physicality and wins over audiences everywhere she travels."
— Downtown Phoenix Journal
Editor’s Pick, Phoenix Fringe Festival
A Picnic at the Asylum at the Hudson Theatre
by Marcus Kaye~
From the moment she steps onto the stage, Angela Neff has the audience in the palm of her hand, or rather, in the seat of her father’s woody. Neff’s stage presence alone is reason enough to see A Picnic at the Asylum. Factor in her seamless character transitions, a darkly comedic story, and a compelling examination of father/daughter relationships and what results is nothing short of a Hollywood Fringe hit.
Bravely portraying her bi-polar father, pregnant mother and 6 other siblings, Neff paints a fascinating picture of suburban life with her manic depressive dad. Through AA, asylum picnics and birthday dinners, the audience grows up with Neff, clearly seeing how she could both love and hate her father.
Neff’s mannerisms are so distinct, that she is able to fluidly transitions between her multitude of personalities by simply changing gesture. While other one-man shows rely on costumes or dialogue to mark the transition, it is Neff’s physicality here that does the trick.
The story hits the dramatic highs and lows of Neff’s childhood without ever dragging or feeling redundant. Expertly written and full of surprises, the script is pitch perfect.
A Picnic at the Asylum plays June 19 at 5pm, June 20 and 25 at 8pm and June 22 and 23 at 9:30pm at the Hudson Theatre.
Development and Direction
A Picnic at the Asylum, is Angela’s second play and debuted last July, at The Marsh theater in San Francisco. It was directed by the talented playwright and actor, Mark Kenward and was developed with playwright, David Ford, nationally renowned for his work with solo theater artists.
Back Story
Living on the streets of downtown San Jose and then Phoenix in the ’80s, Bob Neff was a manic self-ordained street preacher outlandish enough in his messianic message to draw the attention of local journalists. Now, 25 years after he made his final headline leaping to his death from the top of the Hyatt Regency, his daughter, actress/playwright Angela Neff, performs her 15 character solo play about the vibrant and tragic life leading up to that final act.
Before he was another homeless “character” on skid row, Bob Neff was a loving father of eight piloting an unreliable 1948 Woody on surfing safaris and leading his kids’ backyard 4-H adventures in a nascent Silicon Valley. His tendency to take things to extremes – from advanced Catholicism to psychedelic holidays – somehow seemed part and parcel of that era’s Northern California grooviness.
But the dark spiral of bi-polar mental illness eventually sent him down a rabbit hole of madness – to a brooding state mental hospital complete with electro-shock therapy and surreal Sunday picnics. Ultimately, the madness tore apart his family, too – leaving his daughter to come of age in its shadow, seeking solace and love in wild memories.
