Productions
How To Be A Virgin (2016)
A wry and hilarious journey through one 30-year-old Christian virgin’s misadventures in love and (not quite) sex, How To Be A Virgin explores the cultural mores surrounding sexuality, faith, feminisim, and gender. Nominated for four awards at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival, How To Be A Virgin presents virginity as its own form of sexual identity in itself. (1 f/1m)
A vital, urgent, and wry take on something that is often mocked or only discussed in hushed tones. Its winning humor invites us in, but its touching examination of virginity, a badge some wear with pride, others with shame, packs the real punch as it asks us to examine our preconceived notions of sex, worth, and identity. Neuss brings virginity out into the open as its own brand of sexual identity.
- Stage Raw
Revival (2015)
A dive into the world of craft cocktails and mixology, Revival explores the confessional space of bars through Crispin’s cocktail lounge where each drink is invented in response to a patron’s story. As reality and fiction collide, Crispin struggles to maintain the escapism inherent in his approach to the art of both storytelling and drink-making. (1 f/4 m)
A contemplative, quietly sensual celebration of small pleasures...a surprising, warm, intriguing piece.
- Playwright's Horizons
BacktoBack (2011)
An allegory based on the Cupid and Psyche myth, BacktoBack that traces the evolution and devolution of love, ultimately asking the question of how to love amidst our own faults—and the growing awareness of our partner’s. (3 f/1m)
A thoughtful and thought-provoking dramatization of love and resentment as two flipsides of the same phenomenon… Neuss’ language is teasingly, deliberately enigmatic… a kind of puzzle-box, with the essence of love locked away in its heart under a lattice of paradoxes and riddles… a tantalizing and carefully crafted piece.
– The Cherwell, Oxford UK
Tierra Linda (2009)
A piece collaboratively devised with Dramatic Adventure Theatre company, Tierra Linda is an exploration of the cross-cultural encounter between American students on a humanitarian aid project and the indigenous peoples of the Andean mountains. A lyrical and impressionistic journey through questions of cultural imperialism and the white savior complex, this piece premiered in Quito, Ecuador and later off-Broadway in New York. (ensemble)
I Heard the Cry (2008)
Based on the 2006 infanticide case of LaShaun Harris, I Heard the Cry adapts this true story through the lens of Euripides' Medea. The story of a mother who believed that God told her to murder her three children by drowning them in the San Francisco Bay, I Heard the Cry explores questions of poverty, mental illness, and race through a modern retelling of ancient Greek tragedy. I Heard the Cry was produced through a grant awarded by the UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender. (3 f/1m + ensemble)
Casper, WY (2006)
Five strangers, one airport: Casper, WY traces the journeys of five people who find themselves trapped in a remote airport in Wyoming, waylaid as they wrestle with the demons each are trying to escape. (2 f/3 m)
Staged Readings
Unnamed
A story of cross-cultural love and grief, Unnamed traces the story of American woman Magda and her newlywed Ugandan husband, Ambrose who must grapple with the unexpected death of her mother and the even more unexpected inheritance of a frozen embryo. Investigating the ethical dilemmas surrounding reproductive technology, Unnamed ultimately is a portrait of loss and reconciliation through love that crosses national boundaries. Unnamed has been a finalist for the Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award and won the 2018 Tim Robbins Award in Playwriting. (4 f/3 m)
A soulful meditation on grief, love, and our ability to know ourselves and the ones we love.
- Playwright's Horizons
Contemporary and tender...a distinctive play.
- The Royal Court, London
Rebirth, Inc.
Based on true events, Rebirth Inc. tells the story of Ian, an ambitious young entrepreneur who just needs a really good idea. When he discovers an obscure South Korean company that lets people pay to go through their own funerals, he sees an opportunity. A darkly comic journey through questions of morality, capitalism, and the cost of raw ambition, Rebirth Inc. asks how far you would go to succeed? (1 f/ 3m + ensemble)
Sons of Thunder
Based on Jean Paul Sartre's first play, Bariona, Sons of Thunder traces the extraordinary journey of the famous philosopher's first foray into theatre during his incarceration as a prisoner of war under the Nazi's in World War II. Traversing between his idealistic youth and his waning old age, Sons of Thunder probes the life of one of the most famous philosopher-playwrights of the 20th century and his struggle with mortality, God, existentialism, and his own legacy. (1 f/ 5 m)
