Baron Kelly

Baron Kelly is an Assistant Professor of Theatre.  He holds a diploma from London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, an M.F.A in Acting from California State University Long Beach, and a Ph.D. in History, Criticism, Literature and Theory from the University Wisconsin-Madison.  During 2007-2008, he had the distinction of being awarded a second Fulbright as a visiting scholar at the IMER (International Migration and Ethnic Relations) Center at the University of Bergen.  While in Norway, he was invited to the Russian Academy of Science and Literature in St. Peterburg to present a lecture on the great 19th-century tragedian Ira Aldridge.  Some of the universities/institutions at which Baron has taught and lectured on the theatre include: University of Oslo; University of Bergen; National Theatre Academy of Finland; University of Ghana; University of Lodz, Poland; University of Helsinki; Mendelssohn School of Theatre and Music, Leipzig Germany; University of Bremen, Germany; Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters; and Universita di Firenzi, Italy.

A professional actor for over thirty years, Baron's work spans film, television, and stage.  He has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in over thirty of America’s regional theatres.  In July 2009, Baron performed Macbeth in Florence, Italy with an international cast of British, American, and Italian actors at The Bargello.  This critically acclaimed production made history as the first English-speaking production in a national museum in Italy.  His international credits also include Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, Edinburgh Festival, and Dublin’s Academy Theatre.  On Broadway he appeared opposite Collen Dewhurst in Electra and Al Pacino in Salome, both directed by Arvin Brown.  Regional theatre productions include Camelot with Geroge Wendt and The King and I (Madison Wisconsin’s Oscar Meyer Theatre); A Doll’s House and Master Harold...and the boys (Wisconsin’s Mitchell Theatre); The Three Musketeers (Madison Rep); Strider, The Mistress of the Inn, Fifteen Strings of Cash, and Spunk (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Othello and Henry VIII (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Othello and Comedy of Errors (Dallas/Fort Worth Shakespeare Festival); Oedipus (Guthrie), Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Teeth and Smiles (Shakespeare Theatre Washington); Much Ado About Nothing (Trinity Rep); The Winter’s Tale (Baltimore’s Center Stage); Angels in America (World Premiere-San Francisco’s Eureka Theatre); The Wait (Yale Rep); Miriam’s Flowers (Mark Taper Forum); Antony and Cleopatra, Comedy of Errors (Old Globe, San Diego); Search and Destroy (World Premiere), Cold Sweat (World Premiere), and Custer’s Last Band (South Coast Rep); The Piano Lesson and Grace (American Premiere-Portland Rep); The Queen of the Leaky Roof Circuit, Whereabouts Unknown, The Boys Next Door (Actors Theatre of Louisville); The Petrified Forest (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Pill Hill (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Measure for Measure and Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Orange County) and The Winter's Tale and Twelfth Night (California Shakespeare Festival), among others.  Television: As The World Turns; Frasier; Law and Order; Loving; The Innocent; Majority Rule; Homicide; The Adventures of The Galaxy Rangers, Slavery: The Making of America. Film: A Day Without a Mexican; Nobody American; Bird; Looking for Jose; The Couch; Who Killed the Baby Jesus; Heroes; Voices.   Baron was recently nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award Nomination for Cal Rep's Kentucky Cycle.  Baron's work has been seen in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun Times, Aftenposten, Research Review of the Institute of African Studies, and American Theatre, among many others.  He is on the board of The Comparative Drama Conference and has presented nationally and internationally.