Dan A.R. Kelly

Director

    Dan A. R. Kelly was raised in Greenville, SC, where he attended the Fine Arts Center for theater and creative writing and later worked as the Resident Playwright for the S.C. Children's Theatre. 

    He graduated from N.C. School of the Arts for Film Directing in 2001, where he directed six short films, which have been screened at the Cannes International Film Festival Student Screening and the Hybrid Film Festival in Columbia, SC. 

    Having worked as an intern for the Academy Award-winning documentarians, The Empowerment Project, Dan returned to upstate SC and to the theater.  He directed Cash on Delivery, The Hobbit, Wolf Stories (which he wrote), James and the Giant Peach and Frankenstein for Easley Foothills Playhouse; Miracle on 34th Street for Clemson Little Theatre; The Rainmaker for Greenville Little Theatre; Women and Wallace for Electric City Playhouse in Anderson; and "The Tragedy" (which he wrote) and Creation of the World and Other Business for Citizens of the Universe, a theater troupe he helped establish.  Dan also directed "The Problem," winner of the 2003 S.C. Community Theater Festival and state representative at the 2004 Southeastern Theater Conference. 

    As an actor, Dan has worked professionally on stage with Bella Luna Theatre for Children, the Upstate Shakespeare Festival and S.C. Children's Theatre; and in many independent and industrial films, including Graveyard Love, Foresight, Girl's Room, the upcoming Cash Money, and the U.S. Army training film "The Many Faces of Sexual Assault."  He has received numerous national, state and local awards for artistic achievement. 

    Other accolades include:  "Best Production" for "The Problem", S.C. Theater Association Community Theater, Festival, 2003. Also awarded: "Best Actor" (Richard Beveridge) and  "Outstanding Performance by an Actress" (Traysie Amick), Semi-Finalist in Cyclone Productions' Screenwriter's Project, 2001, Internship with Academy Award-winning Empowerment Project, 2001, Served as judge for MTV Award at Double-take Documentary Film Festival, 2001, had an internship with the American Pavilion/Kodak Worldwide Student Program at the Cannes International Film Festival, 2000., wrote one-act play produced at Winthrop University, 1996., 1993 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts' Arts Recognition and  Talent Search (ARTS) Writing Award, second place and 1992 Scholastic Writing Award (Garrison Keillor, judge), first place.