Heather Kelley

Contact Information

Education

Heather holds a BFA in Acting from the University of the Arts, an MFA in Acting from Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory, and a PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Professional/Academic Experience

Prior to her arrival at UNC, Heather taught theatre at CU Boulder, where she worked on a variety of productions as an actor, director, and dramaturg. Before moving to Colorado, Heather taught acting at Kean University (Union, NJ), where she also served as the Director of Audience Services for Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean.

Other Experience

Heather is a former company member of the New York Neo-Futurists and Mad Dog Theatre Company, and performed for many seasons with South Brooklyn Shakespeare Company in New York. Recent local credits include Appropriate (CU Boulder), Celebration, Florida (Square Product Theatre), and The Wolves (CU Boulder).

Research/Areas of Interest

Heather's current research focuses on intersections between theatre and spirituality, including theatre ghostlore, ghost tourism and mediumship as performance, and depictions of the supernatural on stage and on screen. Her dissertation, "Spectating Spirits: Three American Theatres and Their Ghosts," examined the reported hauntings of the Alley Theatre (Houston, TX), Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Waterford, CT), and Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré (New Orleans, LA).

Publications/Creative Works

Heather's recent publications include the book chapter, “The Ghost at the Top of the Stairs: Apparitions of Trauma and White Supremacy in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Appropriate,” in The Figure of the Monster in Global Theatre: Further Readings on the Aesthetics of Disqualification (forthcoming from Routledge), and the article, “What Happens When We Don’t Listen to Birds: Augury in Ancient Greek Drama,” in Ecumenica: Performance and Religion 16, no. 1 (Spring 2023).