ART
Kelly Nesbitt is a multidisciplinary performance artist working at the intersection of movement-based theater, performance art, and somatic clown psychology. Their work transcends genre, offering poignant and often hilarious reflections on contemporary American life. Audiences have described Nesbitt’s performances, characters, and films as “transcendentally hilarious,” “inexplicably profound,” and “profoundly sincere.”
Since 1999, Nesbitt has received numerous grants to create solo and ensemble-based interdisciplinary works, tour internationally, and co-produce community-driven art events in unconventional venues—including fringe festivals, black box theaters, speakeasies, and even dumpsters. A 2005 invitee to the European Andorra International Festival of All Women Clowns, Nesbitt was most recently awarded a competitive 2023 grant from Oregon’s Regional Arts and Culture Council for advanced teacher training.
Aesthetically, Nesbitt’s performances fuse clown/drag, recycled props, and raw intermedia. Their films layer poetic field recordings, audio distortions, and lo-fi visuals to create immersive, dreamlike landscapes. Nesbitt often inhabits endearing, offbeat characters and uses self-referential humor to explore the dualities of human experience—mask and authenticity, pathos and absurdity, pratfall and poignancy.
They credit major influences including Giovanni Fusetti and Laurie Carlos, and formative training at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Celebration Barn Theater, as well as deep engagement with DIY and grassroots performance communities.
Outside the studio, Nesbitt is a licensed Occupational Therapist with over 25 years of clinical experience across all levels of elder care, including hospitals, home health, skilled nursing, memory care, and rehabilitation. They are the founder of Adaptable Abodes, LLC, a consulting practice specializing in home accessibility, aging-in-place planning, and creative housing solutions for older adults and people with disabilities.
In addition to their clinical and design work, Nesbitt teaches red nose clowning classes for seniors, combining therapeutic movement, presence, and play to support joy, connection, and emotional well-being in aging communities.
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.
Watch Film here: >PENNY<
Film by Kelly Nesbitt, Music by Mad Composer Lab, Running Time 20 minutes
Recommended viewing: Full Screen size + Turn Closed Captions ON
My film PENNY was recently released 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.