ART

Kelly Nesbitt is a multidisciplinary performance artist working at the intersection of movement-based theater, performance art, and somatic clown psychology, a body-based approach to presence and play. Her work transcends genre, offering poignant and hilarious reflections on contemporary American life. Audiences have described her 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 work, tour internationally, and co-produce community-driven art events in unconventional venues, including fringe festivals, black box theaters, speakeasies, and even dumpsters. In 2005, she was invited to perform at the Andorra International Festival of Women Clowns. Most recently, she received a competitive 2023 grant from Oregon’s Regional Arts and Culture Council to pursue advanced teacher training.

Aesthetically, Nesbitt’s performances fuse clown, drag, recycled props, and raw intermedia. Her films layer poetic field recordings, distorted audio, and lo-fi visuals to create immersive, dreamlike landscapes. She often inhabits endearing, offbeat characters, using self-referential humor to explore the dualities of human experience: mask and authenticity, pathos and absurdity, pratfall and poignancy.

Her major influences include Giovanni Fusetti and Laurie Carlos. Her formative training includes Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, Pig Iron Theatre Company, and Celebration Barn Theater, along with deep engagement in DIY and grassroots performance communities.

Outside the studio, Nesbitt is a licensed occupational therapist with more than 27 years of clinical experience across the continuum of elder care, including hospitals, home health, skilled nursing, memory care, and rehabilitation. She is 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.

Nesbitt also teaches red nose clowning classes for older adults, combining movement, presence, and play to foster 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.