ELIZA KELLEY
director, deviser, actor, writer
Eliza Kelley
Eliza Kelley is a director, deviser, actor, and writer. Their work has a strong emphasis on community and representation, as well as addressing the things in our world that we have ultimately inherited from our predecessors. They want to use their platform to uplift others and to plant more seeds of joy in the hearts of their audiences and readers.
Eliza graduated from the high school drama program at UNCSA, and they have a BFA in Contemporary Theater from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. They have created work in North Carolina, New York, Boston, and California.
INHERITANCE
"UNCSA presented a unique live theatrical experience with 'Inheritance: A Work in Progress,' a work of devised theater exploring timely themes of isolation, identity, relationships and mental health.
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During 'Inheritance: A Work in Progress' (which had an original working title of “The Windows Project”), audiences will observe six characters, played by actors from the School of Drama, through windows of the 1837 Brookstown Inn as they reveal a narrative developed collaboratively by the students under the direction of Drama faculty member Andy Paris, an Emmy-nominated pioneer of devised theater. Upon entering the outdoor location, audiences will experience an environment of sights, sounds and smells reflecting urban life, created by students from the School of Design & Production.
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'Inheritance: A Work in Progress' was developed from an original concept by Dramaturg and Assistant Director Eliza Kelley, a 2017 graduate of UNCSA’s High School Drama Program and local resident who is majoring in devised theater at Boston Conservatory. While moving into her first apartment in Boston, she was struck by the sights, sounds and smells of the urban residential environment.
'How do people act when there is no one watching?' she wondered at the time. That experience came to mind amidst the COVID quarantine. 'Everyone was isolated, stuck in our spaces, while the world kept going beyond our windows,' she said. 'How do we deal with that?'"