Nancy
Keystone is a Los Angeles-based theater director/playwright/designer,
and visual artist. She is the 2003 recipient of Theatre
Communication Group’s [TCG] prestigious Alan Schneider
Director Award. She is currently Artist-in-Residence at Portland
Center Stage, a position supported by the National
Theatre Artist Residency Program from Theatre Communications Group
and Pew Charitable
Trusts. The grant provides support for a two-year collaboration
between Ms. Keystone and PCS in the development of Apollo [Part
2].
Most recently at PCS, Ms. Keystone directed Edward Albee's Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ["Best Actor" and "Best
Actress" Drammies for Allen Nause and Margo Skinner], and Claudia
Shear's Dirty Blonde. In February, 2001 she directed
the World Premiere of her own adaptation of Antigone at
PCS.
In Los Angeles, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Critical
Mass Performance
Group, a collaborative ensemble dedicated to creating new works and bold
interpretations
of classic plays. Currently, with Critical Mass, she is developing Apollo
[Part I]: Lebensraum, about the relationship of German rocket scientists
and the United States Space Program. In 2000, Critical Mass premiered The
Akhmatova Project, a movement-based performance piece, inspired by the life
and writing of Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. Created and directed by Ms. Keystone
in collaboration with the company, The Akhmatova Project was named
one of the "Ten Best Productions" in Los Angeles for 2000 by the Los
Angeles Times, and garnered four L.A. Weekly nominations including
Production of the Year in 2000. Also with Critical Mass she has directed Measure
for Measure [named one of the "10 Best" productions, 1991, L.A.
Reader], The Rover, Dr. Faustus, and Brecht's
Baal.
In Atlanta, she was Artistic Associate at Actor's Express from 1995—2000.
There, she directed and designed: The Dying Gaul, A Doll's
House ["Best Director,"Atlanta Press], The Misanthrope, Three
Sisters ["Best Director" and "Best Production," 1996, Atlanta
Journal/Constitution], the highly acclaimed Hamlet, and, the
blockbuster Unidentified
Human Remains and the True Nature of Love. Other recent credits
include Victoria Ann Lewis' Stuck [Mark Taper Forum]; the long-running
hit, Low Level Panic, winner of five L.A. Dramalogue awards and
the L.A.
Weekly's "Best Ensemble" award; A Midsummer Night’s
Dream [San Francisco Shakespeare Festival]; at Georgia Shakespeare Festival: Cymbeline ["Ten
Best Theatre Events of 2003," by Atlanta Journal-Constitution;
"Ten Best Productions of 2003," by Southern Voice], and Othello ["10
Best" productions in Atlanta, 1997, Creative Loafing]. Forays
into opera include Mozart's Don Giovanni and Le Nozze
di Figaro [San
Louis Obispo Mozart Festival], Livietta and Tracollo [Long Beach
Opera], and Postcard From Morocco.
In 1995 she was the Artistic Director of the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice
Celebration—an
artist/community parade and festival which included 600 participants and
100,000 spectators. With composer Randy Tico and Critical Mass Performance Group, in
1990 and 1991, she wrote, produced, directed and choreographed two trans-cultural,
multi-media festival performances as part of the Solstice Celebration which were
performed outdoors on multiple stages, spoken and sung in English and Spanish
with A.S.L. interpretation. A short film, The Housekeeper, which
she wrote and directed, has been seen on the FXM channel and at film festivals
in the U.S. , Paris and Tokyo.
She is the recipient of fellowships from the Drama League of New York, and the
California Community Foundation. As a visual artist, Ms. Keystone works in mixed
media, creating paintings and collages which are part of numerous private collections.
She combines her visual art with directing to create unique set designs and environments
for her productions. She is currently a member of the visiting faculty at UCLA
and Cal State Los Angeles, a mentor for Young Playwright's Program in Santa Barbara,
CA, and is an instructor in arts-in-education programs nationwide.
