{{Short description|Irish playwright and screenwriter}} {{Infobox person | name = Sonya Kelly | birth_place = Dublin, Ireland | alma_mater = Trinity College Dublin | occupation = Playwright, screenwriter | relatives = Frank Kelly (uncle) }}
'''Sonya Kelly''' is an Irish playwright and screenwriter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sonya Kelly |url=https://www.theagency.ie/sonya-kelly |website=www.theagency.ie |access-date=24 August 2022}}</ref>
Kelly was born in Dublin. Some of her family had a theatre background: her uncle Frank Kelly was a well-known actor, and an aunt who taught speech and drama sent her plays by George Bernard Shaw as a teenager.<ref name="IE21"/> She studied drama and classics at Trinity College Dublin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sonya Kelly |url=https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/sonya-kelly |access-date=24 August 2022 |website=Curtis Brown}}</ref>
After graduation she got a few acting roles in Dublin's Gate Theatre before spending some time as a stand-up comedian. She then progressed to what she has described as "a medium somewhere between theatre and comedy", doing self-performing autobiographical pieces. "The Wheelchair on my Face" was the first of these followed by "How to Keep an Alien". Her first play for other actors was "Furniture".<ref>{{cite web |last=Hourican |first=Emily |date=2022-10-08 |title=Playwright Sonya Kelly: "Despair is your friend. If you're not worried, how do you know what you're aiming for?" |url=https://www.independent.ie/life/playwright-sonya-kelly-despair-is-your-friend-if-youre-not-worried-how-do-you-know-what-youre-aiming-for-42048058.html |access-date=10 October 2022 |website=Irish Independent}}</ref>
Productions of Kelly's plays "The Wheelchair on My Face" and "The Last Return" have won Scotsman Fringe First awards.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Falvey |first1=Deirdre |title=Druid's The Last Return by Sonya Kelly wins award at Edinburgh Fringe |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2022/08/12/druids-the-last-return-by-sonya-kelly-wins-award-at-edinburgh-fringe/ |access-date=28 August 2022 |work=Irish Times |date=12 August 2022}}</ref>
She lives in Dublin with her Australian wife Kate. They met while they were both working on a play at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin.<ref name="IE21">{{cite web |last=Dwyer |first=Ciara |date=7 February 2021 |title="When I came out it didn't dawn on me that I couldn't get married"- Sonya Kelly talks about coming out, marrying an "alien" and how lockdown sparked her new. play |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/when-i-came-out-it-didnt-dawn-on-me-that-i-couldnt-get-married-sonya-kelly-talks-about-coming-out-marrying-an-alien-and-how-lockdown-sparked-her-new-play-40060790.html |access-date=24 August 2022 |website=Irish Independent}}</ref> Their daughter Juno was born in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last=Winston |first=Fran |date=2021-06-07 |title=Theatre star Sonya Kelly and wife Kate Ferris welcome 'miracle' baby girl and share first pictures |url=https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/irish-showbiz/theatre-star-sonya-kelly-wife-24264530 |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Irish Mirror}}</ref>
Kelly was a 2024 recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 April 2024 |title=Sonya Kelly |url=https://windhamcampbell.org/festival/2024/recipients/kelly-sonya}}</ref>
==Playography== *''The Wheelchair on My Face'' * ''How to Keep an Alien''<ref>{{cite news |last=Gardner |first=Lyn |title=Edinburgh festival review: How to Keep an Alien – a comedy of love and visas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/aug/09/how-to-keep-an-alien-edinburgh-festival-review-sonya-kelly |date=9 August 2015 |work=The Observer |access-date=28 August 2022}}</ref> * ''Furniture'' * ''Once Upon a Bridge''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Meany |first1=Helen |title=Once Upon a Bridge review – three worlds collide in near-death drama |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/feb/12/once-upon-a-bridge-review-sonya-kelly-druid-mick-lally-galway |access-date=28 August 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=12 February 2021}}</ref> * ''The Last Return''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Meany |first1=Helen |title=The Last Return review – what queuing etiquette reveals about western imperialism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/jul/17/the-last-return-review-mick-lally-theatre-queuing-etiquette-sonya-kelly |access-date=28 August 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=7 July 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Sonya}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Irish dramatists and playwrights Category:Irish women dramatists and playwrights