Shelley joins the cast of the Broadway National Tour of The Play That Goes Wrong.
NYTimes: The Infinite Love Party
At Bushwick Starr, Diana Oh and her team of “super queero heart questers” welcome guests to a night of dance-filled revelry. (Yes, there’s a sleepover option.) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/theater/infinite-love-party-bushwick-starr.html
Pride and Prejudice
Shelley returns to Trinity Rep to perform as Jane in Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice!
run: Oct. 4- Nov. 4
Showtimes and ticket prices can be found here
Trinity Rep (201 Washington St. Providence, RI.)
the bright edges of the world
Quick Silver Theater Company produced Shelley's first full-length play in an AEA 29-hour developmental reading. Directed by Kevin R. Free, The Bright Edges of the World follows Big and Little as they travel across the country in hopes to discover who their mother was before she passed away.
CAST:
Little, Morgan McGuire
Big, Claire Fort
Father, Benton Greene
Mother, Polly Lee
Shakespeare in NYC *
Shelley worked with Oregon Shakespeare Festival on Comedy of Errors as a part of their PlayOn! Initiative.
playwright: Christina Anderson
dramaturg: Martine Green
Read about Play On! here
The Fire This Time
Shelley's short play POPPY was a part of The Fire This Time Festival Season 9 that took place at the Kraine Theater, January 2018 . Dir. Candis C. Jones
Read about it here: A Roundtable with The Interval
"THERE IS SOMETHING TERRIBLY RADICAL ABOUT BELIEVING THAT ONE'S OWN EXPERIENCE AND IMAGES ARE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO SPEAK ABOUT, MUCH LESS TO WRITE ABOUT AND TO PERFORM "
-JAMES BALDWIN
Dear Sister →
The Fort sisters are in pre-production for their series, Dear Sister, Directed by Robin Cloud www.robincloudcomedy.com/.
In the wake of their father's illness, roles are reversed as bi-racial sisters Claire and Shelley step into the role of caretaker following the tragic loss of their white mother.
Young, Wild & Free
Shelley is giddy in her stockings to make her on-camera debut alongside Filipe Costa (Snowfall FX) and Laura Ramadei (OITNB) in this exciting new series that was created/produced by Lucy Gillespie, directed by Nick Leavens, and shot by a 70% female cast and crew.
Unicornland is an 8-episode webseries about Annie, who explores her sexuality post-divorce by dating couples. ...Over drinks, at dinner, and in bed. Each episode features a date with a new couple, from Williamsburg hipsters, to Wall Street power duos, to Bushwick burners, as Annie becomes not just sexually active, but activated.
Unicornland celebrates the ethnic and social diversity of New York City, with a cast that’s 60% non-white, including trans, genderqueer and disabled actors.
Watch Shelley here in episode 5
Learn more about Unicornland here!
"My mission is not merely to survive, but to thrive."
Shelley is excited to announce her next show: the New York premiere of Harry and the Thief.
In this action adventure blockbuster meets historical southern melodrama, a modern day thief Mimi (played by Shelley) is coerced by her cousin Jeremy (played by the brilliant Larry Owens), into time traveling back to 1863 to bring Harriet Tubman (Ngozi Anyanwu, Good Grief) modern day guns to start a revolution. Over the course of the show, Mimi encounters a band of slaves and madness ensues.
This is the inaugural season of The Habitat — a new theatre company started by producer Caroline Gart and director Katie Lindsay.
The amazing company:
Opening is 5/19. Closing is 6/4.
Showtimes and ticket prices can be found here.
The Robert Moss Theater (440 Lafayette St., 3rd Floor, NY, NY).
A love letter to New York <3
Shelley’s New York Debut has come! Join her as she performs opposite Debargo Senyal (Billions) as well as downtown legends, Mary Shultz (The Leftovers), Tina Shepard, and more in the multiple Obie Award winning Talking Band’s production of, Burnished by Grief. Shelley pays Blossom in this chaotic, over stimulated urban mash up filled with constant motion, scrambled energy and the overlapping realities of race, culture and multiple generations. Seven characters long for a pocket of stillness, the solace of beauty, relief from loneliness, and the possibility of falling head over heels in love with their opposites.
“One of the boldest and most venerable politically minded companies in New York experimental theater.”
–Ben Brantley, New York Times
Previews begin 1/22. Closing is 2/7.
See what audiences are saying here.
Showtimes and ticket prices can be found here.
La MaMa (74A East 4th Street, btw Bowery & 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003).
Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?
This may be the closest Shelley gets to playing an elf. Definitely livin’ her dream. Join Shelley at Trinity Repertory Company’s annual production of, A Christmas Carol. In this timeless play, Shelley plays the love-torn Belle and the jolly Lucy. She’s been singing Christmas carols every day since October when rehearsals began and she doesn’t plan to stop when the show closes. It’s just so merry. 77 SHOWS IN TOTAL. Holy wassail, that’s a lot of spirit.
Look for her next year on the big stage in New York for her one-woman Chipmunks version of “Carol” (no joke, but mostly kidding).
"A Christmas Carol" runs from Nov. 8-Dec. 31 . Tickets can be purchased here. Trinity also holds a special modified show Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. for those with autism spectrum disorders and other cognitive and physical disabilities.
Trinity Rep, 201 Washington St., Providence (201 Washington Street, Providence, RI 02903).
Shelley Fort as Lucy in A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep (Credit: Mark Turek/Trinity Rep)
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
Shelley is spending the summer playing Cressida in Vermont at the Bread Loaf School of English campus. The Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble stages a major theatrical production every summer, along with smaller staged readings or events. This year, the production is, Troilus and Cressida. As an actor in the ensemble, Shelley will perform multiple kinds of literature (poetry, narrative, nonfiction, as well as plays) in Bread Loaf classes as a powerful vehicle for interpretation.
You can purchase tickets here.
Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English (75 Franklin Street Middlebury, VT 05753).
Foolish Games
Shelley makes her Equity contract debut in one of Lynn Nottage’s most beautiful plays to date.
In her second at Brown/Trinity Reps MFA program, Shelley takes on the role of Mayme. Set in New York City in 1905, a young African-American woman, Esther, pursues her dream of becoming a seamstress and opening her own beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as white women she sews for. Mayme is a jazz-playing whore who is one of Esther’s clients.
Direction is under Trinity Repertory Company member, Janice Duclos.
Previews begin 1/30. Closing is 3/2.
Showtimes and ticket prices can be found here.
Trinity Repertory Company (201 Washington St, Providence, RI 02903).
