Artist Statement

"The reason you create is because there's a story crawling to get out of you." - Stephen Karam

I grew up in a family of painters, of visual artists, and our primary source of fun was sketching. We’d sketch on Saturdays, holidays, days off. We’d sketch on vacation, during heat waves, and in church. While my school friends were at the movies or mall, I was having a picnic in the snow in a graveyard doing what? Sketching. This instilled in me a need to notice and document. I find I’m doing the same with my scripts. I want us to notice. I want us to witness and bear witness to hidden human experience. I’m making markers for lives—tombstones on unmarked graves. I want us to see how vulnerable we all are, how we must do a better job of protecting each other, and how damned the downward spiral can be. I write about people—ordinary people—in all their twisted, aggressive, hopeless, hopeful, humorous, and sad glory. Sad glory is something to notice.

Bio

Kelsey Austin is a playwright, editor, instructor, and flash fiction writer based in New Jersey. In addition to short pieces, she has several full-length plays including THE ESSENTIALS, COCKFIGHT, and RAINDROP CLEAN. As an instructor at Rowan College, Kelsey taught literature, speech, and theatre courses. She has experience in acting, directing, choreography, scenic design, and stage management. Kelsey works as a freelance editor and artist teaching acting and dramatic movement. She earned her MA in Literature: Theatre and Drama at Essex University in Colchester, England where she studied playwriting under Jonathan Lichtenstein. Kelsey is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Playwrights’ Center, the Drama Guild Writers Group, a Chicago Dramatists Network Playwright, and a founding playwright of the Telling Humans Playwrights Studio. She completed a residency at The Blue Parrot, Chicago, a workshop and showcase at Facility Theatre, Chicago, and has had readings with Chicago Dramatists, The Blue Parrot, Facility Theatre, San Diego Fringe Festival, and Links Hall.