Kelly is an award-winning theatre director, producer, educator, and trained actor based in New York City. She’s passionate about women’s stories, re-imagined classics, mischievous satires, bilingual theatre, intergenerational theatre, and stories that examine the nuances of gender dynamics and class struggles. As a director she combines rigorous text analysis, tightly-crafted devised movement, and a true ensemble-based rehearsal process to create a highly theatrical experience on stage. As a leader she is nimble, actively committed to collaboration, and very cool under pressure. A co-founder of the critically acclaimed Flux Theatre Ensemble, she has directed throughout the downtown New York City theatre scene as well as regionally. With Flux she directed Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz (NY Times Critics Pick), Marian or the True Tale of Robin Hood by Adam Szymkowicz, Dog Act by Liz Duffy Adams, World Builders by Johnna Adams, and Honey Fist, The Sea Concerto, Riding the Bull, and Jane the Plain by Corinna Schulenburg. Regionally she has directed Indecent at Playhouse on Park (Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Director), Wolf Play and An Enemy of the People at Portland Theatre Festival, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apt 2B and The Agitators at Playhouse on Park. She's also directed with Working Theatre, Peculiar Works, The Dramatist Guild, The Flea, Shakespeare and Company, Chrysalis Theatre, The Lee Strasberg School, NYU Tisch, Temple University, and Lafayette College. She received her MFA in Directing from Columbia University.

Kelly was raised by her mother, a choreographer; her father, a painter; and her stepfather, a public school teacher. When Kelly is not directing, she enjoys bicycle touring, hiking, gardening, learning Spanish, and traveling this incredible planet. She lives in Astoria, Queens with her partner, illustrator and professor Kristy Caldwell.