Spotlight On: Kelli Crump

Kelli Crump (she/her/hers) is a lauded actor, director, activist, and theatre educator. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA, serves as an AEA Central Principal Councilor, and works as the Assistant Professor & Director of Theatre at Alma College.

Kelli Crump

How did you get started in the arts?

I have come a long way since beginning my artistic life in Mrs. Roberta Potter's homeroom class. She cast me in the black history month program at Chrysler Elementary School in Detroit. Mrs. Viola Seck was our music teacher and Mrs. Lilian Jackson was our amazingly progressive and fearless principal. In 3rd grade, I played an enslaved mother who watched her children being sold and fought the enslaver to stop it to no avail. We performed the piece at our school and again for the city-wide Detroit Public School Black History Month program at a local community center. That one experience exposed me to the magic and power of theatrical storytelling, which laid the foundation for the artist, activist, and educator I am today.

If you could direct/produce one show, what would it be, and why?

I would love the opportunity to direct/produce the complete works of Dominique Morisseau, Christina Anderson, Jocelyn Bioh, and Lynn Nottage. They each have an amazing talent and skill to capture and unapologetically declare perspectives that are often missing in the American theatre.

If you could play one character in all of theatre or film, who would it be and why?

I don't really have one character in mind. As long as they have an interesting journey and are well written, I'm happy to dive in and play.

Name an artistic role model and why you look up to them.

There are so many! I learn so much from watching the work of various artists. Viola Davis, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Laurie Metcalf, Sandra Oh, Whoopi Goldberg, Denzel Washington, Robert De Niro, Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson... each for different reasons. Their vulnerability, skill, range, and consistency are executed at levels every actor should strive to accomplish.

What did you want to be when you were a child? Are you fulfilling that dream?

I recently found my high school yearbook. My senior year "future plan" was to be a drama teacher. Being a college professor and artist seemed like dreams for others to accomplish. I'm fortunate to have had teachers and elders around me who spoke dreams into existence that I didn't know I had until they were fully realized.

What is your artistic guilty pleasure?

I LOVE to watch reaction videos of people on YouTube watching movies or shows I like. Watching others experience the emotional rollercoaster of a Shonda Rhimes show, Hamilton, or from watching The Color Purple for the first time gives me so much joy and fills my heart!

What role/show/experience on your resume is most memorable and why?

I had one line in a film with Robert De Niro. I auditioned for a non-speaking coffee barista but was cast as a librarian who actually interacted with him. I didn't know I had a scene with him until I was contacted about my fitting and the wardrobe person mentioned the colors he would be wearing so I didn't pick the same palate. My line got cut from the movie but my scene didn't. That was the BEST birthday gift from the universe ever!

What is your dream for the Michigan Arts Community?

My dream for the Michigan Arts Community is for it to truly realize and recognize that we need each other to succeed. We need to build and cultivate an inclusive and diverse community that reflects the residents of this great state. Arts in Michigan is segregated culturally, economically, and physically. I'd love for us to find more ways of partnering and creating solutions to long standing issues and concerns that will encourage our audiences to grow and thrive for years to come.