ROBERT NEFF WILLIAMS

Robert Neff Williams 1921-2015

written by

Jennie May Donnell

Robert Neff Williams was a man of the theatre. Neff was long-time faculty member (38 years) on the Juilliard drama faculty. He was in charge of the speech division at Columbia University until 1990. He served as a speech consultant for Hallmark Hall of Fame television productions, and he has received the Folger Shakespeare Library Theater Fellowship. His credits include Broadway, Off Broadway, and regional theater. Throughout his teaching career he set the standard for teaching excellence. In this You Tube Tribute from the Julliard School, Robin Williams, Hal Holbrook, and many Julliard students give thanks to Neff and are all part of his “very big mutual admiration society.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fuOikWa-CE

In this video Neff begins by explaining the birth of the BHP: “Doc Lee, who was the head of the theatre Department of the University of SD, picked up 14 of us and we went out to the Black Hills and sat down and said: “We are a Theatre, and began to do plays! It was an old CCC Camp -a lot of ram-shackle old buildings- and they were adapted into Costume shop, Prop shop and the middle one was made into a Theatre.” Neff was one of Doc Lee’s original BHP members helping actualize and build the Frontier Theatre. He was at the BHP in the earliest of the early years (and most likely some of the hardest) 1945-50. Robert would return in 1965, and again 1979 and 80. Luckily, that is when we met.

She Stoops To Conquer, Neff Williams, Director, Set Jim Singelis, Lights, Bill Anderson,

Costumes, Dean Mogle, Photos, Menno Kraai

1979 -BHP- She Stoops to Conquer rehearsals: Neff transformed the tiny back deck of the old theatre into a delightfully shaded outdoor studio. The richness of this script was in absolute contrast to the state of decline of the old CCC Theatre. We soon were immersed in the verbal world of brilliant (and fun) vocal warm-ups, tongue-twisters all designed to encourage “lazy lips and tongues into clarity and precision.” Not a moment to waste -Neff’s intensity of purpose to teach vocal dexterity using shifts in volume, pitch, melody working to subtlety nuance the world of playwright Oliver Goldsmith. I hung on Neff’s every word. His good nature and humor (including priceless zingers) would be followed by continued encouragement quenching our fears with retorts like “Nonsense! Of course you can.” Reminding us lovingly that the actor’s diction and voice should serve the language, ideas, emotions, style, and the world of the play. Menno and I were married during the run of She Stoops and as a wedding present we received The Riverside Shakespeare inscribed “for Jennie May and Menno, this first necessary to any household—with affection, Neff.”

After falling in love with Neff at the BHP (while he was directing La Mancha, She Stoops, and Dames at Sea) he invited me to attend his small, in-demand vocal class for NY actors for next three years in New York City. Smartly, I said yes!

Man of La Mancha, Eric Johnson, Jennie May Donnell

160 West 73rd New York was the address of Neff’s uptown basement studio where I was able to grow and learn, with 11 other students in an atmosphere of verbal elegance and refinement. I continued my study with him for Restoration and 18th Century Comedy. He motivated students to “speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue.”

From his daughter Liza: “Dad was serious about working. He recorded each student on reel-to-reel tape, and then played it back two years later. He knew what was wrong with people’s speech, and he knew exactly what they needed to do to improve. He wasn’t interested in people who didn’t “work”. And people who worked, improved. And people who improved, loved him. And he began to develop a “very big mutual admiration society.”

Yes, I was and am certainly a member of that club. It was exciting to understand, grow and watch others change and developing their unique voice inspired by his love, techniques, and smarts. So rich, so challenging, so fun. Neff’s teaching was every actor’s dream come true.

Dames at Sea, Jennie May Donnell, William Wood

This South Dakota native graced, inspired, and challenged actors from BHP to Broadway, Regional and NY Theatres, Julliard, Columbia, London the list goes on and on. His methods, techniques, and insights trained the best theatre and film actors of today.

Beyond studies, Neff was my dear friend. He shared with me the best New York had to offer in theatre, dance, orchestra, opera, chocolate, and ice cream treats. I am just another in the long line of “his very big mutual admiration society.” With all this attention and affection directed toward him, I can hear Neff quoting Mrs. Hardcastle from She Stoops to Conquer “Pshaw, pshaw! This is all but the whining end of a modern novel.”

ROBERT NEFF WILLIAMS