Biography
Overview
Baron Kelly is a four-time Fulbright Scholar and has traveled extensively as a Cultural Specialist for the United States Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs teaching and lecturing on the theatre in Russia, Scandinavia, Africa, Europe, London, and Asia.
Teaching acting has led him to teaching and lecturing residencies in more than a dozen countries on five continents and in twenty American states, including London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, Moscow Art Theatre, Beijing Central Academy of Drama, National Theatre School of Finland, and National Theatre of Ghana.
ACTING
He has performed internationally for the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain; Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada; National Theatre of Norway; Yermelova Theatre, Moscow, Russia; Constans Theatre, Athens, Greece, Academy Theatre Dublin; Edinburgh Theatre Festival; Bargello, Florence, Italy; among others. Broadway credits include Salome and Electra.
Numerous classical and contemporary roles for over 30 of America’s leading regional theatres including the Oregon, Utah, Dallas Fort Worth, and Southern California Shakespeare Festivals; Yale Repertory; The Guthrie; Shakespeare Theatre Washington; Actors Theatre of Louisville; Old Globe San Diego; Mark Taper Forum; South Coast Rep; Hartford Stage Company; Repertory Theatre St. Louis; Baltimore Center Stage; Missouri Repertory Theatre; Berkshire Theatre Festival; McCarter Theatre; Huntington Theatre Company; among others.
SCHOLARSHIP
He has published widely including Theatre Journal; American Theatre; Journal of American Drama and Theatre; African American National Biography; Stage Directors and Choreographers Journal; Slovo i Chas; Journal of Ukrainian Institute of Education and Science; Routledge Companion to African American Theatre History; Harold Pinter Review, Cambridge Scholars Publishing; Peter Lang Publishers; Journal of the institute of African Studies; among others.
Dr. Kelly’s book, An Actor's Task: Engaging the Senses, is available from Hackett Publishing Company. He is currently under contract to Routledge Publishers for a co-edited manuscript with Karen Kopryanski, The Embodiment of Text.
TEACHING
In August 2020, joined the Theatre and Drama Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Between 20214 and 2020, Dr. Kelly was a member of the faculty of the University of Louisville, where he was Head of MFA Acting and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Louisville.
SERVICE
He continues to serve or has served on the boards and panels of numerous arts and educational organization, including NEA, Fulbright Commission, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Theatre Conference, Comparative Drama Conference, American Society of Theatre Research, and Stanislavsky Institute Advisory Board.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
A former W.E.B. Du Bois faculty fellow at Harvard University, Dr. Kelly earned his PhD in Theatre Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a diploma from London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and an MFA in Acting from California State University Long Beach. In 2022, he will be inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.