A Bay Area native and Stanford University graduate, Robert Kelley founded TheatreWorks in 1970 and has been its Artistic Director ever since. He has directed over 150 TheatreWorks productions, including many world or regional premieres. In 2012, he received the Silicon Valley Arts Council’s Legacy Laureate Award for his lifetime of artistic achievement. The Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (BATCC) also presented him with both their Paine Knickerbocker award for lifetime achievement and for his direction of TheatreWorks’ productions of four different performances. He has also received BATCC Awards for Outstanding Direction for his productions of Into the Woods, Pacific Overtures, Rags, Sweeney Todd, Another Midsummer Night, Sunday in the Park with George, Jane Eyre, and Caroline, or Change; Bay Area Drama-Logue Awards for his direction of Ah, Wilderness! and Once in a Lifetime; Dean Goodman Choice Awards for Violet, Ragtime, Proof, Dolly West’s Kitchen, and Harold & Maude; and Back Stage West Garland Awards for his direction of Side Show and Sunday in the Park with George. He recently directed 33 Variations, Of Mice and Men, The Secret Garden, Sense and Sensibility, and Snow Falling on Cedars, and productions of Emma at TheatreWorks, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
What did the Fellowship or Laureate mean to you at the time you received it?
This was an extraordinary honor, made all the more meaningful as it was the first award in this category.
What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?
I could say ?Same work - Artistic Director at TheatreWorks.? I founded TheatreWorks in 1970 and it?s been an incredible journey watching the company, our art, my art, theatre art grow over time. We?re part of the growth and change in the region. I continue to experience things in the theatre that I?ve never seen or heard before.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?
In your life, in your work: Say something.
Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?
Exceptional work, financially challenged