Sam Kelley

Samuel L Kelley
Samuel L Kelley
Born	June 23, 1948; Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Playwright and Professor
Education	University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (BA, MA); Yale University (MFA); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (PhD)
Period	1970–present

Samuel Lawrence Kelley is an American playwright and Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies and Africana Studies, State University of New York College at Cortland.

Education

Kelley earned a B.A. in speech and drama from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; M.A. in speech from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; and the MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. He also holds a Ph.D. in speech, with a concentration in radio-TV-film, from the University of Michigan.

Work

His critically acclaimed play, Pill Hill, caught the attention of theatre critics with its professional debut at the Yale Repertory Theatre's Winterfest in 1990. Pill Hill has won numerous awards and has been produced in theaters around the country. Among Kelley's other works are The Blue Vein Society: Class and Color within Black America, Thruway Diaries, White Chocolate, and Faith, Hope and Charity: The Story of Mary McLeod Bethune. His current works include God Is My Witness, which is about the 1919 Elaine, Arkansas Race Riot in Phillips County, and Retirement Blues, a contemporary comedy about a couple adjusting to the husband's first twenty-four hours in retirement. Dr. Kelley has had the opportunity to see his work developed and produced in theatres across America: Yale Repertory Theatre; Yale Cabaret Theatre; Hartford Stage; Philadelphia Theatre Company; Nuyorican Poets Café, Manhattan, NY; Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn, NY; Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company, Syracuse University; Jubilee Theatre, Fort Worth, TX; Ensemble Theatre, Houston, TX; Chicago Theatre Company; eta Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago; Coppin Players, Baltimore, MD; Juneteenth Legacy Theatre, Louisville, KY; University of Louisville; Penumbra Theatre; Plowshares Theatre Company, Detroit, MI; Teatro Mascara Magica, San Diego;:and numerous other venues around the country.

Kelley has also performed the works of Martin Luther King and James Weldon Johnson for more than forty years, and he has acted in several of his own plays. He also directs and is experienced is the play development process.

In March 1985, Kelley helped to organize the first State University of New York (SUNY) College at Cortland Gospel Music Festival. He spearheaded at scholarship campaign that has raised more than $100,000 to provide scholarships for talented students. Internationally, Cortland's Gospel Choir has traveled to London, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Toronto and Niagara Falls, Canada. They have also traveled extensively in New York, Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

Bibliography

Plays

Pill Hill

Habeas Corpus

The Blue Vein Society

Faith, Hope and Charity: The Story of Mary McLeod Bethune

Thruway Diaries

Beautiful Game

A Hero For McBride

White Chocolate

Retirement Blues

No Hidin' Place

God Is My Witness

References

External links

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