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Kevin Kelly was born upstate New York in a river town called Poughkeepsie. He is a writer/singer/poet and Actors Studio member. He currently resides in Hollywood, where he met the co-stars in the movie he directed featuring Michael J. Pollard and Melissa Kite (finished in 2023). Kevin is a Broadway stage actor whose plays have been performed all over the world. He has acted in over 100 plays on and off-Broadway from La Mama to Lincoln Center. Kevin Kelly has played music on stage in clubs like CBGB'S and the Whiskey a gogo on Sunset Blvd. As well as acoustic gigs in many coffee shops. He has been honored to have inspired a radio show on WBAI in New York City. He has produced 6 critically acclaimed albums each with 15 original songs written and performed by Kevin Kelly. These have brought him international sales and many positive reviews. He was honored in a play with music he performed called "Ain't No Coyotes in Poughkeepsie" then followed with "The Street In The Kid". (see editorial below). He is presently creating an anthology of his poetry and a book called "Homeless in My Home Town".
The street in the kid, Theatre Chelsea 22 Theatre/playwright-director-actor (role Of The Kid) From The Editors Notebook: Several weeks ago I received a marvelously insane jazzy letter from a playwright- actor, Kevin Kelly, who wanted me to come see his play, The Street in the Kid. The letter went on for two unpunctuated pages, wildly raving- "Dan, baby! Dan, kid! This is the play for you!" (Needless to say, I had never met Kevin Kelly.) While I should know better, something in me found this brash insanity irresistible. And I thought to myself: If Kevin Kelly can get this kind of mad energy into his writing and acting-my God! This is going to be an Exciting Evening in the Theater! But then I told myself: How many times have you been suckered in by PR and personal requests filled with hopeful pretense, only to leave the theater in the doldrums, wiped out by meaningless manic performances! Ultimately, Kelly's letter overcame me, seduced my better judgement and at the last possible moment-indeed, half an hour after the last possible moment, coming half an hour late-I found myself standing at the side of the stage in a crowded loft on the last night of this production; and I watched young, talented earnest actors and actresses grind, grunt, sweat, and act their heads off as though their necks depended upon this particular night and what they did there. And as it turned out, after adjusting to the nervous rhythms of Kevin Kelly's raging lyricism, I rather enjoyed the evening. The Street in the Kid is about the seediest lowliest street life, centering on a country kid (Kevin Kelly) who ignores all the warnings implicit in Love for Sale and falls in love with a prostitute with a heart of Tylenol. She can cure your headache and kill you in one fell swooping orgiastic kiss. The Street in the Kid is rough, ragged, and unabashedly sentimental-as though it had been written in 1936. Imagine Odets and Saroyan in the same writer! (Actually, Odets tried to write this play in the early 40's, Night Music, and blew it; while Saroyan wrote it successfully, The Time of Your Life, and touched the exposed nerve endings of a whole generation recovering from the Depression and getting ready for war.) *Kelly plays the Kid with a look of desperate innocence, his eyes begging for love (and applause). All the performers were in like ways desperately energetic. The whole production seemed to cry out: Discover Me! Discover Me! Rumor hath it that one of Joe Papp's directors wants to workshop this play at the Public. Kevin Kelly is a raw talent. Support, help, and encouragement are advised. Do it, Joe! Give the kid a break!"
* Dan Isaacs, Other Stages Online Reviews
More reviews found in the attic film/theater -- actor/playwright An empty bed Film/actor (role of Jonathan) "Kevin Kelly is a sinuous fox on a rampage ..." - Dave Hayward, Southern Voice Biloxi blues - Broadway Tour Theatre/actor (role of Selridge) "Kevin Kelly is great as Selridge, the soldier who can't say anything without leaping about. Kelly is totally physical; he's Elvis 10 years before Elvis gyrated for his first audience."
* Helen Zucker, The Observer
Orphans Theatre/actor (role of Philip) "... Director Dan Hamilton and a superb ensemble of three actors show us how even a motherless orphan will cry out for mother in his sleep. They show us the need for love and a little "encouragement" no matter how much we might want to deny it. They show us the thin line between strength and weakness, and they unfold before us the difference between survival and the magic of living. *It is difficult, if not impossible, to describe what Kevin Kelly does with the role of Philip. He comes on like a puppy, his hands raised in front of his chest. He is a flyaway chimpanzee one moment and in the next he is the lamb ..."
* Robert Merritt, Richmond Times- Dispatch
The poor of new york, soho Rep Theatre/actor (role of Danny Puffy)
"... Kevin Kelly is Chaplinesque as Danny Puffy ..." - New York Times, (critic forgotten ...) Tarantulas dancing Friends and Artists Theatre Theatre/actor (role of Bucky) .... Kevin Kelly inhabits the role of Bucky (originated by James Gandolphini) in a frighteningly real performance ...
* Online Reviews
Ain't no coyotes in poughkeepsie Presented by Diamond Blue Productions at the Rose Theatre, Venice Theatre/playwright-actor (role of Mickey) There may not be any coyotes in Poughkeepsie but there are some talented actors in this production. Written by Kevin Kelly, Ain't No Coyotes in Poughkeepsie deals with an ongoing problem in our society: drug abuse. The names will change and the scenario may be different but the long term effects of substance abuse take their toll on the user. In this case it's the marriage of Bobby (Daniel debrien) and Debby (ninatremblay). They live in a trailer park in the small "country" town of Poughkeepsie with their two daughters. To help things along Bobby has been dealing a little coke and grass on the side. He also seems to be his own best customer. Now he's been fired from his job at IBM for drug problems, his bother Mickey (Kevin Kelly) has returned to town with a serious coke habit of his own, and now the two of them sit around the house getting higher than most trees. Suffering wife Debbie has had it; she's moving out with the kids and getting a divorce. If Bobby wasn't sure his life had taken a turn for the worse, this pretty much clinches it. Director Joe Maruzzo has allowed the actors to make the plot their playground. Every movement, piece of dialogue and facial expression is a theatrical aerobic and with this piece it is fitting. For most likely there is a sort of melodramatic negativity and despair in alcohol and drug abuse. When Mickey howls at the sky or tussles with Bobby, the violence of the act is heard: the hard falls worked out to perfection, the sweat real. When Bobby begs Debbie to stay, he's on his knees. Maruzzo obviously wants his characters raw, stripped bare. The actors deliver. Additional strong performance by Judy Kerr and M. Patrick Hughes (who absolutely steals one of the later scenes) as Bobby and Mickey's mom and dad. Gina Eltern as Mickey's latest girlfriend, Joanne, as the archetypal earth mother with a few updates. Strong set and light design by Chad Leeper round a nervy production in which the playwright allows no compromises.
* Diedre Johnson, Backstage Magazine
On The Arts- playwright gets inspiration from poughkeepsie Kevin Kelly has performed on Broadway and in Hollywood. But the actor/ playwright gets his inspiration from Poughkeepsie. His play "Ain't No Coyotes in Poughkeepsie," which he set in his hometown, was presented at the Tamarind Theatre in Hollywood in December. The 33-year -old- performer, who lives on the West Coast, hopes to make a film out of the story, which talks of middle America and the dynamics and dysfunction of a contemporary American family. The story takes place over a Thanksgiving weekend at a family gathering that includes Bobby, an unemployed IBM factory worker and his brother Mickey, a rock and roll musician who lives on the edge. Over the holiday, the whole family hashes out its disappointments and hopes. The play is loosely based on his own family, Kelly said recently. "Bobby and Mickey are parts of myself and I also drew from a kind of impression of my parents. And my cousin used to work for IBM. " But the play is universal in its exploration of what makes all of us tick and how we balance desires with reality. "Mickey embodies the metaphor of the coyote...and brings the howling of the wilderness with him," writes Kelly in his explanation of the play. According to American Indian legend, when a coyote comes near, it's time to pay attention to our responsibilities. Kelly's play is about paying attention. It's something Kelly has had to do. He's lived life in the fast lane with stints on the soaps, the national tour of "Biloxi Blues" and plays from Shakespeare to Shephard in Manhattan. In between, he performed with his rock and roll band. In 1992, he needed a rest and came home to hang his hat. Being in Poughkeepsie with his family was a help. It meant roots, a chance to breathe, a chance to write everything down. The play was an exhalation, a cry of rage and a resolution. His mother, Rosemary ("Boots") Kelly, said her son is talented and a fighter. A graduate of Arlington High School, he spent two years at SUNY Plattsburgh before heading to the city and then to the West Coast. Kelly's father, Edward, who was born and raised in Poughkeepsie and retired from IBM, has a similar view of his son. "When he went into it, I was reluctant," his father said. "But he has such a tremendous love for theater. He will write around the clock." Kelly's done that and put his city on the map. He showed its blemishes and its good points. It's the least he could do for a city that helped him when he felt low. It brought him back up again, gave him strength. Kelly embraced the city to create his play. Perhaps other artists can do the same and help show the area in a positive light.
* Florence Schetzel, Poughkeepsie Journal
