Picnics at the Asylum

NEXT PERFORMANCE at the Blue Door Theater ★★★★★
Thursday, May 24th, 2012 @ 7:30 PM
Tickets $7 815 W Garland Ave Spokane, WA

The performance will be followed by a conversation with the artist about the impact of mental illness on her and her family.

PICNICS AT THE ASYLUM

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. Now, 25 years after his death; actress and playwright, Angela Neff, performs her comedic and compelling 14 character  play about his vibrant and tragic life.

Beached photo by Louis Pepin

 BEACHED COMING FALL 2012

After an auto-immune disease forces Darcy, a Pro Surfer, in bed for a year she decides to take things into her own hands: bee stings, eating RAW, shamans & new age hijinks. Meanwhile, her mother and doctor are doing everything they can to get her back on her western meds. A provocative and at times hilarious exploration of the very human dimensions of the current autoimmune epidemic.