Hilary Kelman

In the great tradition, Hilary was raised somewhere else and made her way to New York City. Kansas City will always have her heart but NY has all of her money. After much hemming and hawing, she self-describes herself as a theatremaker and artist for simplicity’s sake.

During a two-year stint in the UK to pick up an MFA, she co-founded Tier5 in order to bring Ladies in Waiting: The Judgement of Henry VIII to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This move started a trend of new hat acquisitions most notably: producer.

With Tier5, Hilary has co-produced every run of Ladies in Waiting and meg jo beth amy & louisa, directed the 2019 production of Ladies in Waiting at Southwest Shakespeare Company, and was on the devising and writing team for meg jo beth amy & louisa.

As an actor with Tier5: originated and played Catherine of Aragon (Ladies in Waiting) and Louisa (meg jo beth amy & louisa) in all of their incarnations and the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). She also appeared as a presenter in the Tier5 Sings! concerts Let’s Misbehave and Witch, Please!

Hilary is passionate about the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of artists and has implemented theatrical intimacy practices into Tier5 productions. She has and continues to study intimacy choreography and direction through workshops with Theatrical Intimacy Education including: best practices; choreography; studio techniques, casting, & policy; trauma-informed practices; foundations in race, intimacy, & consent. She was the intimacy choreographer for Tier5’s The Christmas Carol: A Queer Fantasia and has supervised/choreographed intimacy for runs of Ladies in Waiting and meg jo beth amy & louisa.

Acting credits beyond Tier5 include: Every Seven Minutes (The Lift-Off New Play Series), Postscript (Samuel French Short Play Festival), Henry IV, Part I (Southwest Shakespeare Co.)

UK credits: Spring Storm (Arcola Theatre-London), Don Juan Comes Back from the War (Tristan Bates-London), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe/E15-London), Phaedra’s Love (Drayton Arms-London), The Tempest, Sleeping Beauty (E15-UK).

Tours: multiple shows with Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Hampstead Stage Company, and Buran Theatre Company.