Nambi E. Kelley
has been rewarded at the Plays Marathon 2000 [Ensemble Theater of Scottdale, Arizona] and the Playwright’s Center [Minneapolis] with public readings of Chris T. The World Premiere production of CHRIS T., staged in Chicago by MPAACT, and directed by Chuck Smith was highly recommended by the Chicago Sun-Times. Nambi’s screenplay adaptation of her play MiLK is currently in pre-production, scheduled to shoot a short film in the fall of 2001. Her play He She & My White Mama, enjoyed extensive development at Chicago Dramatists and Playwrights Kitchen Ensemble [Los Angeles]. Directed by Steve Scott, He She & My White Mama won the 2nd Annual New Plays Festival [Prop Theater]. Nambi’s The Tale of Nambi & Kintu is enjoying a touring production with St. Louis Black Rep. Nambi just completed serving as a New Plays Lab Playwright [Steppenwolf]. In 1997 she served as playwright-in-residence, and proud recipient of the Colonel Stanley R. McNeil Fellowship at HealthWorks Theater, where she penned the company’s first violence-prevention play for high school aged children, Peace to the Fourth Power. The play received the Peace Maker of the Year Award [Peace Museum of Chicago]. Nambi has had 3 plays produced by MPAACT: MiLK [which also enjoyed a national tour], Girl to be Named Later, and Hoochie Mama as part of an evening of one acts titled Afrosynthesis]. Nambi is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and is a playwright-in-residence with MPAACT and Chicago Dramatists. She has a B.F.A. in Playwriting from the Theater School at DePaul University, formerly the Goodman School of Drama.