James recently starred in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway and Los Angeles productions of his one-person, nine-character show, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Off Broadway Alliance Award, a United Solo Special Award, and was nominated for  Lucille Lortel  and Drama Desk awards.   James’ first one-man play, Word of Mouth, was presented Off-Broadway by Mike Nichols & Elaine May, directed by Eve Ensler, and received the NY Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Solo Performance. Word of Mouth went on to be performed in Los Angeles (LA Weekly Theater Award), at the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen, and in many cities throughout the U.S.  Last year, New York Stage and Film produced the premiere of his play Mother of Invention, starring Linda Lavin.  Other theater credits as an actor include Gore Vidal’s The Best Man on Broadway, One Man Band, directed by Jack Hofsiss, Cloud 9, directed by Tommy Tune, Extraordinary Measures, written & directed by Eve Ensler, the 30th anniversary production of The Boys in the Band, directed by Ken Elliot, I Am My Own Wife, The Mystery of Irma Vep (both at the Hartford Stage Co) and the premiere of Motherhood Out Loud at Primary Stages and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.   He has also appeared on television in Sex and the City and in the films Home for the Holidays, Broadway Damage, and Motherhood.

James wrote the screenplay for the short film Trevor, which received an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.  He has published two young adult novels, Absolute Brightness and Virgin Territory, and he wrote The Road Home: Stories of Children of War, which was presented at the International Peace Initiative at The Hague.  He also co-edited the recently published The Letter Q (Scholastic, Inc.).  For television, James adapted Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of the City for Showtime (Emmy Nomination), wrote one of the final episodes of Will & Grace, and is story consultant on this season’s ITV series Vicious starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.   He executive produced the award-winning documentary film After The Storm, about life in New Orleans for young people following Hurricane Katrina and is the co-founder of The Trevor Project, the only 24-hour crisis intervention and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ teens.  He also regularly speaks to corporate and educational groups on issues related to diversity awareness. James is profiled in the recently published Everyday Heroes (Welcome Books).

Laura Savia is the Associate Artistic Director Williamstown Theatre Festival, a Tony Award recipient.  Directing credits include the world premieres of Lucy Thurber’s Once Upon a Time in the Berkshires, Orpheus in the Berkshires (Williamstown), Unstuck (59E59/Throughline), and Bareknuckle (Vertigo Theatre), as well Ryan Haddad’s Hi, Are You Single? (Public Theater - Under the Radar), Jonathan Caren’s The Recommendation (IAMA - Ovation Awards for Best Production and Best Actor), and Josh Koenigsberg’s The Mnemonist of Dutchess County (Theatre Row).  She has directed radio plays by Robert Askins and Halley Feiffer for Naked Angels, and Living Newspaper plays by Sarah Burgess and Don Nguyen (at A.R.T./Club Oberon, Joe’s Pub, and Le Poisson Rouge), as well as numerous short plays for Labyrinth Theater Company, Ars Nova, Partial Comfort, and the 24 Hour Plays.  She has developed work with Roundabout Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage, Playwrights Realm, Rattlestick, and Ma-Yi Theater Company.  Assistant directing credits include Broadway’s The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino.  Five seasons on staff at Atlantic Theater Company.  Alum of the Drama League Directors Project and Northwestern University. www.laurasavia.com

Keith is honored to be back at City Theatre. The first time was with Sunset Baby by Dominique Morriseau, whose new play Paradise Blue will receive its New York premiere at Signature Theatre, where Keith will reprise the role that he originated at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

 

Keith just closed a run of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at Miami New Drama, where he played the role of the Stage Manager in a multi-cultural celebration of Miami’s Creole and Spanish communities with dialogue spoken in both Creole and Spanish. He was also in August Wilson’s Jitney, that won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play this past season in addition to being awarded a Special Citation by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, for the work of Ruben Santiago-Hudson and the ensemble. Before that, Keith was in the cast of American Psycho on Broadway, and his other Broadway credits include Fences (starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis); Come Back Little Sheba (starring S. Epatha Merkeson); King Hedley II (starring Brian Stokes Mitchell and Viola Davis); Salome (starring Al Pacino); and The Piano Lesson (starring Charles Dutton).

 

Keith has worked Off-Broadway on plays by Leslie Lee; Lynn Nottage; Cheryl L. West; Thomas Bradshaw; Bertolt Brecht; August Wilson; Shakespeare; and the rarely performed Tamburlaine by Christopher Marlowe.He has enjoyed working across the country in some of the finest theaters such as: Alliance Theatre; Goodman Theatre; Old Globe; Long Wharf; Hartford Stage; Yale Rep; Actor’s Theatre of Louisville; Williamstown Theatre Festival; Seattle Rep; Cleveland Play House; Huntington Theatre; La Jolla Playhouse; Chautauqua Theatre Company; and many others.

 

Keith is a core company member of Quick Silver Theatre Co. in NYC and a company member of The Actor’s Center in NYC. He is the recipient of a Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship and a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship in Acting. Keith is a graduate of the conservatory program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.