Kelly Nesbitt is a multidisciplinary performance artist whose creations are rooted in movement based theater, performance art, and somatic clown psychology. Nesbitt’s body of work aims to reach beyond disciplinary confines, tug at heartstrings, and to shine light on the underbelly of modern America. Audience members have described Nesbitt’s live performances, characters, and films as transcendentalist hilarity, utterly inexplicable, and earnestly epic.
Since 1999 Nesbitt has been awarded grants for the creation of solo and interdisciplinary ensemble performances, has toured internationally, and collaboratively produced numerous DIY community art events at fringe festivals, black box theaters, in speakeasies, bunkers, and even dumpsters. In 2005 Nesbitt was one of few selected to participate and perform at the European Andorra International Festival of All Womens Clowns. In 2023 Nesbitt was awarded a competitive grant from Oregon’s Regional Arts and Culture Council for teacher training.
Aesthetically, Nesbitt’s performances employ the use of clown/drag, makeshift recycled props, and lowbrow intermedia techniques. Films experiment with layered imagery and soundscapes by way of poetic field recordings, to audio mash-ups and distortion. Nesbitt embodies endearing characters, utilizes self-referential humor, and plays with the duality of mask and counter-mask - by flipping the sides of a character in order to remind us of the complexity of human nature. Nesbitt juxtaposes pratfalls with the seriousness, absurdities with sincerity, and pathos with surreal-humor - weaving atmospheres of high energy bathos with tender moments of quiet intimacy.
Nesbitt is first generation in the United States by way of Belfast, Ireland. Conceived in Toronto, Canada, born in Massachusetts, then relocated to Maine and is currently living out their midlife days in Portland, Oregon. From Éire, to Mississauga, Agawam, Nonotuck, Mohican, Wabanaki, Aucocisco, and upon Cowlitz lands.
Nesbitt gives credit to their masterful fool teacher Giovanni Fusetti who taught that ‘Intelligence is Limited. Stupidity is Infinite’. To the eternal Obie/Bessie playwright Laurie Carlos who taught that ‘Everything is already in the room.’ To the the schools of The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater, the Pig Iron Theater Company, The Celebration Barn Theater, and the many DIY communities along the way.
Over the past 24 years, Nesbitt has also been working in the field of Adult and Geriatric healthcare as an Occupational Therapist in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. In 2023, Kelly hosted a free community support group for Elder Orphans (or Solo Agers) held at The Grief House. The aim of this group is to nurture the aging process and support Solo Agers in planning for future care needs - as per creating our living wills, advanced directives, power of attorney and more.
What’s New?
My film PENNY (which I’m really quite proud of) was just re-released (November 2023) by Reticular Films which is an audiovisual research, creation, and dissemination platform founded by Dama David and Jada Sirkin in Argentina. This film originally selected and debuted at the RISK / REWARD festival 2021.
PENNY
is a film that I created during the intense first year of covid. It's about mourning the recent loss of my father, burnout from working in the hospital, and finding solace through the use of play - as exemplified by the character Penny’s awkward and yet earnest commitment to meditation, nature worship, and conversations with a radically different kind of deity. Penny is a conduit who expresses our collective grief and despair, yet exemplifies the unquenchable hope that lies deeper in the human heart. Death, mourning, and healing are overt themes of this piece.
Film by Kelly Nesbitt
Music by Mad Composer Lab
Running Time 20 minutes
Recommended viewing: Full Screen size + Turn Closed Captions ON
RECENT WORK - CV - & LINKS ARE DOWN BELOW.
CV, VIDEOS, PHOTOS, RESIDENCIES, WORKSHOPS, TRAININGS, &bCHARACTERS ARE BELOW
SPANISH
Kelly Nesbitt (Portland, Oregón, EE. UU.) es una artista transdisciplinaria de performance y video cuyas creaciones tienen sus raíces en el teatro basado en el movimiento, el arte escénico y la psicología somática del payaso. kellynesbitt.com