About

Keelie works as a theatre and film director, actor, dancer, educator and administrator, and is currently the Artistic Director of the Irish Classical Theatre Company in Buffalo, NY. She competed in the 2009 Irish Dance World Championships and has appeared in world premieres and reprised works by playwrights including Charles Mee, Ben Gassman, Paul Ketchum, Elizabeth Irwin and Mac Wellman.  Keelie has been a company member of the Void Theatre Company of NYC and the Blessed Unrest training ensemble, and currently serves as Co-Artistic Director of The Ume Group- a physical theatre ensemble. She has conceived and executed several performance art pieces and site-specific installations, directed the European premiere of Julia Jarcho's 'Grimly Handsome' in Dublin, Ireland, associate directed Creative Time/ Pedro Reyes/ Meghan Finn's 'Doomocracy' at the Brooklyn Army Terminal and her first feature-length film, planet b234, which screened at festivals across the globe in 2020, 2021 and 2022, won awards including Best Sci-Fi Feature, Best Escapism Film and Best Male Performance and is now available to stream on Amazon Prime. Keelie recently won a Stanley Award for Best Direction of a Play for her production of Kate Hamill’s ‘Little Women’ at the George S. Lindsey Theatre. She is a member of Actors Equity Association and an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Keelie has worked as a theatre, dance, film and creative writing educator in public schools, universities and studios in NYC, Alabama and upstate New York. Her teaching experiences include Brooklyn College, City College of New York, the T Schreiber Studio, University of North Alabama, The Ume Group, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn Prospect, Brooklyn College Community Partnership and Community Word Project. Recently, she was an Assistant Professor in Cinematic Arts and Theatre at the University of North Alabama, and an Artist-in-Residence of Directing/ Acting in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

Keelie studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Stella Adler Studio, HB Studios, The Wild Irish Acres School and the Niall O’Leary School of Dance. She holds a MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College and a MFA in Directing from The Lir Academy of Trinity College Dublin/ RADA. Keelie was a 2015-2016 George J Mitchell Scholar, sponsored by the US Ireland Alliance.