Claire Neumann
Claire Neumann is a world-champion birdcaller, because there is only one birdcalling contest in the world, and it's at Piedmont High School in California. She won twice and subsequently appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and on Ellen to regale audiences with her perfected chirps. Claire is a comedienne and a healer, seeking to uplift through humor and joy.
A graduate of Northwestern University (Magna Cum Laude), and NYU Silver School of Social Work (Master of Social Work), Claire has explored many realms of performance and human connection. She played Grandma Georgina in the National Tour of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and will soon be playing Holly in the upcoming Broadway musical, Bliss. She had a blast Off-Broadway as the Female Clown in Baghdaddy, a musical about the Iraq War (NYTimes Critic's Pick, Original Cast Recording) and played a dinosaur exploring their gender identity in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical, Triassic Parq. Claire was nominated for Best Actress for her portrayal of Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun and Nellie in Floyd Collins at the Weathervane Theatre.
Claire is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in California and New York, and when she is not performing, she is a therapist and teaching artist, utilizing various therapeutic modalities and harnessing the transformational power of theatre and improv to work with children and adults grappling with addiction, eating disorders, and trauma. She is also part of an amateur Salsa dance team in Oakland, and a member of a local Gospel choir, Oakland Interfaith Community Choir.
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When in NYC, she was a part of the hip hop dance troupe Def-C, and the all female improvisational group Funkle Todd, an indie team that has been invited to perform internationally, from Toronto's own Comedy Bar to theaters and festivals in Chicago and NYC, including UCB East, The Peoples' Improv Theatre, The Creek and the Cave, and many underground black-box spaces around the city. Check out their online sketch comedy, here: www.funkletodd.weebly.com. More sketches from her comedy duo DudeTakeDude are in the video section of this site.
Favorite credits, Off-Broadway: Baghdaddy* (St. Lukes Theatre; Actor's Temple), Triassic Parq* (Soho Playhouse) Regional: Private Jones (Goodspeed); Bliss* (5th Ave Theatre); Mystery of Edwin Drood (Riverside Theatre); How To Succeed...(Stages St. Louis); Les Misérables and Into The Woods at the Weathervane Theatre; Boston Marriage (Hudson Stage). Other New York: Spidey Project* (The PIT); Pericles (Gower/Dionyza/Thaliard/Boult/Fisherman 1/Lychorida) at the Garden Theatre; In The Car (Staged reading with Len Cariou and Kyra Sedgwick), directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett; Hooray For Iceboy! (Staged reading), directed by John Rando; Moby Dick staged reading with Tony Sheldon (Prod. by Cameron Mackintosh) Film: Spicy Tuna (Lead), dir. Jacqueline Reyes; Clutter (Lead), dir. Rachel Werbel. TV/New Media: Law & Order: SVU; Door on the Left; Reservation Difficulty (Funkle Todd); Meet Norma St. Cleod (Webseries); Timmy (Guest Star as Timmy), sketch featured on FunnyOrDie; DudeTakeDude (Internet Sketch).
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*Original Cast Recordings (in Audio section of this website)