photo by Craig Schwartz

NANCY KEYSTONE is a theatre director /playwright /designer, and visual artist. In Los Angeles, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Critical Mass Performance Group, whose latest multi-disciplinary piece is Apollo. Apollo [Parts 1 & 2] premiered at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in June 2005, won a Garland Award for “Best New Play,” was named one of the “Top Ten Plays of 2005,” (LA Alternative Press); and “Pick of the Week,” (L.A. Weekly). Apollo [Part 3]: Liberation will premiere at Portland Center Stage (Oregon) in 2009 when the entire trilogy will be produced together for the first time. In 2000, with Critical Mass, she created and directed The Akhmatova Project. Inspired by the life and writing of Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova, it was named one of the "Ten Best Productions" for 2000 by the L.A. Times, and garnered four L.A. Weekly nominations including Production of the Year. She has directed and designed productions at Portland Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Actor’s Express, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and was Resident Director for The Continuum in Los Angeles.  Other directing forays include opera (San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Long Beach Opera, Musica Angelica, Cal State Long Beach), festival performance events (Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Celebration), and film. As a visual artist, Ms. Keystone works in mixed media, creating paintings, drawings and collages, and she combines her visual art with directing to create unique scenic environments for her productions. In 2006 she was co-design consultant on the new Gerding Theatre for Portland Center Stage in the historic Portland Armory, conceptualizing and developing features for the four lobby spaces. She was named one of the “Faces to Watch in 2005” by the L.A. Times and is the 2003 recipient of TCG’s prestigious Alan Schneider Director Award, in addition to other grants and fellowships from: the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Presenters/Doris Duke Ensembles Collaborations grant, TCG/Pew Charitable Trusts’ National Theatre Artist Residency Grant (with PCS), Center for Cultural Innovation’s Investing in Artists Grant, Drama League of New York, the California Community Foundation, Flintridge Foundation, among others. She is a member of the visiting faculty at UCLA, is a frequent guest lecturer, and an instructor in arts-in-education programs nationwide.