His critically acclaimed play, Pill Hill, caught the attention of theatre critics with its professional debut at the Yale Repertory Theatre's Winterfest in 1990. Pill Hill has won numerous awards and has been produced in theaters around the country. Among Kelley's other works are The Blue Vein Society: Class and Color within Black America, Thruway Diaries, White Chocolate, and Faith, Hope and Charity: The Story ofMary McLeod Bethune. His current works include God Is My Witness, which is about the 1919 Elaine, Arkansas Race Riot in Phillips County, and Retirement Blues, a contemporary comedy about a couple adjusting to the husband's first twenty-four hours in retirement. Dr. Kelley has had the opportunity to see his work developed and produced in theatres across America: Yale Repertory Theatre; Yale Cabaret Theatre; Hartford Stage; Philadelphia Theatre Company; Nuyorican Poets Café, Manhattan, NY; Billie Holiday Theatre, Brooklyn, NY; Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company, Syracuse University; Jubilee Theatre, Fort Worth, TX; Ensemble Theatre, Houston, TX; Chicago Theatre Company; eta Creative Arts Foundation, Chicago; Coppin Players, Baltimore, MD; Juneteenth Legacy Theatre, Louisville, KY; University of Louisville; Penumbra Theatre; Plowshares Theatre Company, Detroit, MI; Teatro Mascara Magica, San Diego;:and numerous other venues around the country. Kelley has also performed the works of Martin Luther King and James Weldon Johnson for more than forty years, and he has acted in several of his own plays. He also directs and is experienced is the play development process. In March 1985, Kelley helped to organize the first State University of New York College at Cortland Gospel Music Festival. He spearheaded at scholarship campaign that has raised more than $100,000 to provide scholarships for talented students. Internationally, Cortland's Gospel Choir has traveled to London, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Toronto and Niagara Falls, Canada. They have also traveled extensively in New York, Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Plays
Pill Hill Habeas Corpus The Blue Vein Society Faith, Hope and Charity: The Story of Mary McLeod Bethune Thruway Diaries Beautiful Game A Hero For McBride White Chocolate Retirement Blues No Hidin' Place God Is My Witness
