A Los Angeles-based theatre director/playwright/designer and visual artist, Nancy Keystone is the 2003 recipient of TCG's prestigious Alan Schneider Director Award, and is also Artist-in-Residence at Portland Center Stage in Oregon.
Currently, with Critical Mass Performance Group, she is developing a new piece, Apollo, about the relationship of German rocket scientists and the United States Space Program. Apollo [Part I]: Lebensraum will premiere in Los Angeles in 2004. A companion piece, Apollo [Part II] , is being developed concurrently at Portland Center Stage (Oregon).
Past Critical Mass productions include The Akhmatova Project, a movement-based performance piece, inspired by the life and writing of Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. 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. In addition, with the company, she has directed and designed Measure for Measure (named one of the "10 Best" productions, 1991, L.A. Reader), The Rover, Dr. Faustus, and Brecht's Baal.
In February, 2001, Ms. Keystone directed the World Premiere of her own adaptation of Antigone at Portland Center Stage (originally developed in collaboration with Critical Mass). Most recently at PCS, she directed Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (awards for "Best Actor" and "Best Actress")and Claudia Shear's Dirty Blonde. In Atlanta, her production of Cymbeline for the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, was named one of "10 Best" productions for 2003 by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Southern Voice. She was Artistic Associate at Actor's Express from 1995-2000, where she directed and designed: The Dying Gaul, A Doll's House (named "Best Director," Atlanta Press), The Misanthrope, Three Sisters (named "Best Director" and "Best Production," 1996, Atlanta Journal/Constitution ), the highly acclaimed Hamlet, as well as 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 5 L.A. Dramalogue awards and the LA Weekly's "Best Ensemble" award; A Midsummer Night's Dream (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival); Othello (Georgia Shakespeare Festival), named one of the "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 Summer 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.
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.
In partnership with Portland Center Stage, Ms. Keystone was recently awarded the National Theatre Artist Residency grant from TCG/Pew Charitable Trusts. She is also the recipient of fellowships from the Drama League of New York, and the California Community Foundation. Currently she is a member of the visiting faculty at UCLA and Cal State Los Angeles. She has also been honored to be a Guest Lecturer at Portland State University, Loyola Marymount University, and the Huntington Library, as well as being a mentor for Young Playwright's Program in Santa Barbara, CA., and an instructor in arts-in-education programs nationwide.