Nelly Kelly is a playwright, theatre maker and drag performer. They are an autistic and trans artist and advocate, who aims to make work that resists traditional theatre structures that create barriers to access for artists and audiences.

Nelly was a 2019 recipient of the New Playwrights Award with Playwrights Studio Scotland, where they were also previously a mentored playwright. They recently developed the first draft of their New Playwrights Award play; Waiting for God…’s Only Child with Queen Jesus productions and a cast of eight trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming performers. The have worked previously with NTS as a writer on Scenes for Survival, with their short digital play '68 Months in Waiting'.

Nelly has volunteered in the third sector with a wide range of communities over the past decade and is currently taking part in Thinking Space with NTS. They desire to combine their learning from this work with their artistic practise to find more effective ways they can best serve and authentically engage with audiences, communities and other artists in their artistic practise.