Artist Bio

NAMBI E. KELLEY (Risa) returns to Goodman Theatre, where she most recently appeared in The Good Negro during the 2009/2010 Season. Other Goodman credits include The Ballad of Emmett Till, Crumbs From the Table of Joy (Jeff Award nomination for Principle Actress), Drowning Crow and Mirror of the Invisible World (US).  Other recent Chicago credits include The Lost Boys of Sudan at Victory Gardens Theater; Ten Square at MPAACT and The Glass Menagerie, Harriet Jacobs and Nikki Giovanni: New Song for a New Day at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She made her off-Broadway debut in Court Martial at Fort Devens. Regional credits include playing opposite Phylicia Rashad in Ifa Bayeza’s Charleston Olio (National Black Theatre Festival); Gee’s Bend  (Arkansas Repertory); Seven Guitars (TheatreWorks) Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Fountain Theatre) and Antigone (South Coast Repertory). International credits include performing in her co-adaption of The Book of Living and Dying at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore and the Singapore Arts Festival, as well as projects in South Korea and Africa. Ms. Kelley’s television credits include Person of Interest, Elementary, The Beast and City of Angels.  She holds a BFA from the Theatre School at DePaul University and an MFA from Goddard College. Ms. Kelley is also a produced, published and award-winning playwright, and was member of the Goodman Theatre’s Playwright’s Unit for the 2011/2012 Season.

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