CV
EDUCATION
2005 Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston (painting techniques)
1996 Theatre D’Ange Fou; Paris, France (Decroux Corporeal Mime)
1993 Pickle Family Circus; San Francisco (trapeze; tite-wire)
1990 Accademia Musicale Ottorino Respighi; Assisi, Italy (vocal studies with Peter Elkus)
1976-78 Parsons School of Design; (drawing; painting; photography; illustration)
1974-76 Harkness House for Ballet Arts; (trainee: technique; flamenco; repertoire)
1972-75 American Ballet Theatre School; (technique; character dance; repertoire)
1972-74 Charles Weidman Expression of Two Arts Theatre; (technique; repertoire)
1972-73 James Waring Studio; (ballet)
PERFORMANCE WORKS
2019/2022 ‘Underneath The Skin’ (world premiere)
2019 ‘The Crazy Cries of Love’
2018 ‘Time No Line’ (world premiere)
2017 ‘DOWN TO YOU: John Kelly Sings Joni Mitchell’
2017 ‘Time No Line’ (workshop productions)
2016 ‘Beauty Kills Me’ (concert version)
2015 ‘Love of a Poet’ (reconstruction/revision)
2014 ‘Escape Artist Redux’ (Video Installation)
2013 ‘Rebel Songs of A Range Queen’
2013 ‘Caravaggio Songs: Music From The Escape Artist’
2012 ‘Muse Ascending A Staircase’ (Video Installation & Photography Exhibition)
2012 ‘John Kelly & Dargelos’
2011 ‘The Escape Artist’
2011 ‘Find My Way Home’ (reconstruction/revision)
2010 ‘Cohesion’
2010 ‘Pass The Blutwurst, Bitte (reconstruction/revision)
2009/10 ‘Paved Paradise Redux’
2009 ‘Songs For A Shiny Hot Night: Joni Mitchell’s Court And Spark’
2008 ‘Dargelos at Bar 13’
2007 ‘Cara Viaggio’
2007 ‘Music For Romanians’
2006 ‘Mrs. Hamlet’
2006 ‘21st Century Vox’
2002/05 ‘Shiny Hot Nights’
2004 ‘The Skin I’m In’
2003 ‘Get Up And Jive’
2002 ‘The Paradise Project’
2001 ‘Brother’
1999 ‘Moondrunk’
1999 ‘Café Bluebeard Hof’
1998 ‘Sing Low Sweet Love’
1998 ‘Life Of Cruelty’
1998 ‘Find My Way Home
1997 ‘Paved Paradise’
1996 ’20th Century Vox’
1995 ‘Constant Stranger’
1995 ‘Pass The Blutwurst, Bitte’ (reconstruction)
1994 ‘Far Cry From Bliss’
1993 ‘Light Shall Lift Them’
1993 ‘I Want Your Myth’
1992 ‘Akin: True But Dour’
1992 ‘Arias I Love’
1992 ‘Divine Promiscue’
1991 ‘Down In The Mouth’
1991 ‘Her Tender Moment’
1990 ‘Love Of A Poet’
1990 ‘The Dagmar Onassis Story’ (revision for ‘The Decade Show’)
1990 ‘Cupid And Death’
1990 ‘Maybe It’s Cold Outside’
1988 ‘Ode To A Cube’
1988 ‘Find My Way Home’
1986 ‘Born With The Moon In Cancer’
1986 ‘Pass The Blutwurst, Bitte’
1985/6 ‘Diary Of A Somnambulist’
1985 ‘Go West Junger Mann’
1985 ‘John Kelly Sings’
1985 ‘Long Live The Knife’
PERFORMANCE WORKS IN CLUBS 1980-1985
1985 ‘St. George Killed The Dragon’
1984 ‘Pierrot, Pirrette, Pet’
1984 ‘Death Of Marat’
1984 ‘Trans Siberian Express’
1984 ‘The Dagmar Onassis Story’
1983 ‘S. Sebastiano’
1983 ‘Narcissus’
1983 ‘The Forces Of Destiny’
1983 ‘Pass The Knachwurst, Bitte’
1983 ‘The Mona Lisa’
1983 ‘Death In Dallas’
1982 ‘Life Without Grace’
1982 ‘La Divina’
1981 ‘Maria In Rio’
1981 ‘Orfeo’
1980 ‘Dagmar A Macbetto’
EXHIBITIONS (solo shows marked by *asterisk)
2021
‘Icons, Iconoclasts, and Outsiders’, Howl Arts, NY
2018
*’Sideways Into The Shadows’, Howl Arts, NY; Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
‘Works: Bobby Busnach | Katrina Del Mar | Michelle Handelmann | John Kelly | Bobby Miller’, AMP: Art Market Provincetown, MA
‘Cast of Characters’, Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, NY
2017
‘The Nature Lab’, LABspace, Hillside, NY
2015
‘Like’, Rhode Island School of Design Painting Gallery, RI
‘(Counter) Public Art, Intervention, & Performance in Lower Manhattan from 1978-1993’, Arts Center, Governors Island, NY
2014
*Center Hall Gallery, Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY
‘The House Is Open’, Fisher Center, Bard Live Arts, NY
2013
‘Muse Ascending a Staircase’ (video & photography installation), ‘Masquerade’ Exhibition, Coreana
Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2012
*‘Self-Portraits’, Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2011
‘Looking at Music 3.0’, Museum of Modern Art, NY
2010
*‘Schiele-Kelly’, La Galleria La MaMa, NY
‘Queer Voice’, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, curated by Ingrid Schaffner
‘London Biennale Satellite Show’, Christopher Henry Gallery, NY, curated by Inbred Hybrid Collective
‘Virtuoso Illusion: Cross-Dressing and the New Media Avant-Garde’, MIT List Visual Arts Center, curated by Michael Rush
‘Postcards From The Edge’, ZieherSmith, NY
2009
*’The Mirror Stages: Self-Portraits 1979-2009’ Alexander Gray Associates, NY
‘Postcards From The Edge’, Metro Pictures, NY
2007
*’Cara Viaggio’, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
‘One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This’, 33 Plaques throughout NYC marking contemporary history & cell tour, Creative Time, NY
‘Tryingtoload’, MACRO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome;‘Summerfest’ at Villa Massimo, Rome
‘Spaziaperti 5’, Accademia di Romania in Roma, Italy
‘Tiber Hawks’, FotoGrafia – Festival Internationale di Roma, Gallery of Art, Temple University, Rome
‘Stars and Stripes’, Biagiotti Progetto Arte, Florence, Italy
‘Se una notte d’Aprile’, Blueroom Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, Italy
2005
*’Recycling The Muse’, Baker Room Gallery, Radcliffe Yard, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2004
‘East Village USA’, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY
2003
*The Paradise Project’, The Kitchen, NY
2002
‘Enough About Me’; Momenta Arts, Williamsburg, NY
2001
*’Brother’, Performance Space 122 Gallery, NY
‘Appropriating Symbols’, Whitney Art Works, Greenport, NY
2000
‘Friendships In Arcadia: Artist’s and Writers at YADDO’, Art In General, & Saratoga Art Museum, NY
SELECTED PERFORMANCE VENUES
2019
Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater | REDCAT
Met Live Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Skirball Center for The Performing Arts
2018
La MaMa, NY
Performance Space New York
2017
Oberon @ American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA
Mladi Levi Festival, Ljubljana, Slovania
La MaMa, NY
Dixon Place, NY
Joe’s Pub, NY
2016
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
Abrons Arts Center, NY
Joes Pub, NY
2015
River To River Festival, Governors Island, NY
Pangea, NY
2014
Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY
Bryn Mawr College, PA
St. Marks Danspace, NY
City Winery, NY
2013
La MaMa, ETC, NY
Participant, NY
Spiegeltent, Bard College, NY
Joe’s Pub, NY
2012
Park Avenue Armory, NY
Joe’s Pub, NY
2011
New York Live Arts, NY
MAD Museum of Art & Design, NY
Performance Space 122, NY
Park Avenue Armory, NY
Afterglow Festival, Provincetown, MA
2010
Park Avenue Armory, NY
Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Galapagos, NY
Il Poisson Rouge, NY
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
Weimar New York, Abrons Art Center, NY
Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX
2009
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
Symphony Space, New York, NY
Arons Arts Center, New York, NY
River To River Festival, Castle Clinton, New York, NY
One Arm Red, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY
Dixon Place, NY
Envoy Gallery, NY
City Winery, NY
DIA at the Hispanic Society of America, NY
2008
Tate Modern, London, UK
Hong Kong International Festival, China
Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, NY
Speigeltent, New York, NY
Speigletent, Bard College, NY
2007
Accademia Americana in Roma, Italy
Accademia di Romania in Roma, Italy
Goteborg Theatre, Goteborg, Sweden, Hassleblad Award Ceremony/Nan Goldin
Theater Offensive, Boston, MA
2006
Santa Monica Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA
Spiegel Tent, New York, NY
Pier 17, Benefit For Visual Aids, New York, NY
Southern Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
2005
American Repertory Theatre, Benefit For A.R.T., Cambridge, MA
Fez, New York, NY
2004
Joyce Theatre, Altogether Different Festival, NY
Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA
Bockenheimer Depot, Frankfurt, Germany
On The Boards, Seattle, WA
Oberlin Dance Collective, San Francisco
2003
Howl Festival, NY
Gagosian Gallery, Bang On A Can Benefit, NY
2002
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Sundance Theater Institute, Sundance, Utah
The Kitchen, NY
2001
Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT
Performance Space122, NY
Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, NY
Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA
Fez, New York, NY
1999
New Victory Theatre, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers New Visions Series, NY
PS 1, Long Island City, NY
Universal Amphitheatre, Opening Act For Natalie Merchant, Los Angeles, CA
Copley Symphony Hall, San Diego, CA
Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
Central Park Summerstage, Joni’s Jazz, NY
Mother, Martha At Mother, NY
AWARDS / GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / RESIDENCIES
2020 Art Matters Foundation, Fellowship; Ruth Maleczech ‘Ruthie’ Award
2019 Ucross Foundation Residency Program, Sheridan, Wyoming
2018 National Endowment for the Arts, Dance Grant, for ‘Time No Line’
2018 MacDowell Colony (residency), Peterborough, NH; Millay Colony for the Arts (residency), Austerlitz, NY
2017 Yaddo (residency), Saratoga Springs, NY
2016 Abrons Arts Center (residency), NY; The Virginia Center (residency); MASS MoCA (residency), North Adams, MA; Dance in Process (residency), Gibney Dance Center
2015 Good Works Foundation (grant); MacDowell Colony (residency), Peterborough, NH, Residency; Yaddo (residency), Saratoga Springs, NY
2014 LMCC Process Space Artist in Residence
2013-15 Artist in Residence, Bard College
2013 USA Artists ‘Gracie’ Award Fellowship
2012 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York Theater: Off-Off Broadway ‘The Escape Artist’, book by John Kelly, songs by John Kelly & Carol Lipnik
2012 Liguria Study Center, Bogliasco, Italy
2011-12 MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH, Residency
2011 NEA American Masterpieces Award, for ‘Find My Way Home’
2010 Armory Artist In Residence, Park Avenue Armory, NY
Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship, Sundance Institute Theatre Program at MASS MoCA, MA
Artist In Residence, Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbria, Italy
Visual AIDS Vanguard Award
Ethyl Eichelberger Award
NEA American Masterpieces Award, for ‘Pass The Blutwurst, Bitte‘
Austin Critics’ Table Award, for ‘Paved Paradise Redux’
2008-09 ARC (Advancement, Reinvention, Creativity) Foundation Grant
2008-09 Digital Performance Institute, Residency
2006-07 Rome Prize in Visual Art, American Academy In Rome
2005 Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Actor Large Ensemble, for ‘Dido, Queen of Carthage’
2004-05 Sargent-Faull Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard
2004 Sundance Theatre Institute, Sundance, UT
2003 Yaddo Residency, Saratoga Springs, NY
2001 Cal/Arts Alpert Award, in Dance/Performance
2001 NYFA Artist Fellowship
1999 Rockerfeller Foundation, Grant
1998-99 P.S.1 National Studio Artist Program, The Clocktower, NY
1998 NEA Creation Grant
1991-98 New York State Council for the Arts, Theatre Grant
1997 Peter Reed Foundation, Award
1996 NEA Creation/Presentation Grant
1996 MacArthur Fellowship Residency, Yaddo
1991-96 NEA Choreographer Fellowships
1995 French Cultural Residency, Paris (Decroux Corporeal Mime study)
1992 Oscar Rubenhausen Fellowship, Greenwall Foundation
1992 Art Matters, Inc., Fellowship
1991 Obie Award
1989 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
1988 Bessie Award
1987 Obie Award
1987 American Choreographer Award
1986 Bessie Award
SELECTED WRITINGS
~ ‘Singing Court and Spark’ (essay) for ‘The Rumpus: SWINGING MODERN SOUNDS #82: JONI MITCHELL’S COURT AND SPARK: A SYMPOSIUM‘, curated by Rick Moody, 2017
~ ‘Portfolio: John Kelly’, ‘Performance New York’, Performing Arts Journal #100, 2012
~ ‘Performing the Paintings: A contemporary artist inhabits the Baroque realist’s paintings in a work entitled “Cara Viaggio” ’, The Italian Journal, Volume 20, Number 3, 2010
~ ‘Closet Thrush’, essay in catalogue for exhibition ‘Queer Voice’, at Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia 2010
~ ‘In Praise Of Drag: Redux’, essay in catalogue for exhibition ‘Virtuoso Illusion; Cross-Dressing and the New Media Avant Garde’, at List Art Center, MIT Press, 2010
~ ‘They Stripped With Their Boots On: Revenge With Reprieve’; Movement Research Performance Journal #34, 2009
~ ‘Giving Order To The Google’, InsideArts, Nov/Dec 2005, 35.
~ ‘Grateful’, Reader: Ideas & Information on Arts & Culture, Vol. 13, No. 3, Fall 2002
~ ‘110 Stories: New York Writes After September 11th’, New York University Press, 2002
~ ‘JOHN KELLY’, Autobiography/Monograph published by the 2wice Arts Foundation, in association with Aperture, 2001
~ ‘The Mirror’ 2wice, Self issue Vol. 2, No. 1, 2000, 14-17.
~ ‘I Want Your Myth’, Movement Research Journal: Heroes and Histories, #6, 1993
~ ‘In Praise Of Drag’, Movement Research Journal: Gender Performance, #3, 1991
~ ‘A Way With Words’, Movement Research Journal
~ ‘The Kitchen Turns Twenty: A Retrospective Anthology’, The Kitchen Center for Video, Music and Dance, NY 1992, 97.
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
John Kelly & Carol Lipnik, ‘Beauty Kille Me’, Strange Troubadour Records, 2017
Laurie Anderson, ‘Life On A String’, Nonesuch Records, 2003
David Del Tredici, ‘Secret Music’ (lyricist and vocalist) CRI Records, 2001
Mitja Vhrovnik-Smrekar, ‘The Name On The Tip Of The Tongue’ (Slovenia: A Chamber Opera, vocalist/director), 1998
‘Out Loud’, Knitting Factory Records, 1996
The Jazz Passengers, ‘Jazz Passengers In Love’, Wydham Hill Records, 1995
SELECTED ROLES AS ACTOR / SINGER / DANCER
2020
‘The Soldier’s Tale’, music by Igor Stravinski, with New York Theatre Ballet, choreographed and directed by Robert LaFosse, role: The Devil
2018
‘Words On The Street’, a music theatre work, music by Matt Marks/ David Little, director Kristen Marting, role: Lust
2018
‘The Echo Drift’, chamber opera by Michel Karlsson, director Mallory Callot, role: Moth; Governor
2015-16
‘Dog Days’, chamber opera by David Little, director Robert Woodruff, role: Prince
2014
‘The Threepenny Opera’, director Martha Clarke, role: Street Singer/Filch, Atlantic Theatre Company, NY
2013
‘In A Year With 13 Moons’, director: Robert Woodruff, role: Man in Street; Trans Sister, Yale Rep, CT
2009
‘Orpheus X’, by Rinde Eckert, director: Robert Woodruff, role: (Jon/Persophene); Theater For A New Audience, NY
2007
& 09 ‘Uncivil Wars: Moving With Brecht & Eisler’; director: David Gordon: roles (Vice Viceroy / Lopez & Madame / Mother Superior) Peak Performances, Montclair, NJ; The Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN; The Kitchen, New York, NY
2009
‘The Golden Legend’; choreography by Christopher Williams (St. Anthony Abbott), DTW, NY
2007
‘Lecture On The Weather’, by John Cage, director: Laura Kuhn, role: (soloist); Fisher Center, Bard College, NY
2006-07
‘Orpheus X’, by Rinde Eckert, director: Robert Woodruff, (Jon/Persophene); Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland; American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA; Hong Kong Arts Festival
2005
‘Dido, Queen Of Carthage’, by Christopher Marlowe, director: Neil Bartlett, role: (Cupid); American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA
2003
‘Carmilla’ (Montebank): La MaMa ETC, NY
2001-02
‘James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet’, by John Cage, director: Laura Kuhn, role: (Narrator); Edinburgh International Festival; University of Illinois, Champaign, IL; Zellerback Hall, Berkely, CA; Perth International Arts Festival, Perth, Australia; Hebel Theatre, Berlin, Germany; Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland;
2000
‘James Joyce’s The Dead’, adaptation/director: Richard Nelson, role: (Bartel D’Arcy); Belasco Theatre, NY; Playwrights Horizon’s, NY; Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA; Kennedy Center, Washington DC
SELECTED FILM and VIDEO ROLES
2018 ‘Hustlers and Empires’, video installation by Michelle Handelman
2010 ‘The Clerks’ Tale’, directed by James Franco
2010 ‘Fade To White’, by video artist Janet Biggs
2009 ‘John Kelly Dances On A Pool Table’, collaboration with video artist Shelly Silver
2005 ‘The Pathological Passion Of The Christ’, director Dario D’Ambrosio
2005 ‘Romance and Cigarettes’, director John Tuturro
2000 ‘Circles Short Circuit’, director Caspar Stracke
1996 ‘Cater Waiter’, director Eric Lane
1995 ‘Wigstock’, The Movie, director Barry Shils
1992 ‘Robert’s Movie’, director Genan Gerede
1992 ‘Stolen Tango’, director David Moore
1991 ‘Sublet’, director Chus Gutierrez
1991 ‘Fake Fur Is Growing On Me’, director Simon Grome
1991 ‘Study Of A Plant’, director Simon Grome
1990 ‘Son of Sam and Delilah’, director Charles Atlasstart.earthlink.net
1986 ‘Wigstock’, director Tom Rubnitz
TEACHING and LECTURING
2013-17 Visiting Artist in Residence, Bard College
2011 The New School, NY
2010 Pratt Institute, NY; Yale University, CT
2007 ‘Slow Art; Time Symposium’, Institute For Advanced Study, University of Minnesota
2007 Visiting Artist, Master Program in Fine Arts (PennDesign) program, University of Pennsylvania
2005-06 Guest Lecturer on Dramatic Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2005 Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge, MA
2002 Visiting Artist, Cal Arts, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Guest Lecturer, Tyler University, Philadelphia, PA
