I write forward-looking plays that focus on women’s agency as they navigate their power and repression. Truth matters, so I write about people who lie. My plays explore obsession, betrayal, repression, & recovery.
Awards:
Awards:
- Twice Nominated "Best Adaptation & Modernization" in 2020 & 2021 by New York Shakespeare for LADY CAPULET
- Finalist for the Henley Rose Competition for LADY CAPULET, premiered by Barefoot Shakespeare Company.
- Honored Finalist, WAMC Collaboration Award, 2019, for COURAGE, an immersive site-specific journey, featuring Debra Winger, produced by NACL Theatre.
- ZOE COMES HOME, The Tusten Theatre, Produced by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Oct 7 & 8, 2022 and again on May 6 & 7, 2023; Bernie Wohl Theatre, NYC, May 20, 2023.
- LADY CAPULET, has been presented on stage and virtually by Barefoot Shakespeare in Central Park, Advice to the Players (NH), Turn to Flesh, Bernie Wohl Center (NYC), Farm Arts Collective (PA), Norwalk Library (CT) and CreateTheater (virtual) The Little Shakespeare Festival, and is featured in Smith & Krause’s Best Men’s Monologues of 2020.
- Farm Arts Collective, featured in the NY Times, for DREAM ON THE FARM series of eco plays: the Collective is midway through creating a decalogue of performances on Climate Change and Ecology.
- COURAGE, based on Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, produced by NACL Theatre performed on Governor’s Island, NYC, and at Apple Pond Farm in the Catskills (co-writer)
- DEVIL & THE DEEP, music by Graham Russell of Air Supply, produced by Theatre East at Stage 43 (formerly The Mint Theatre)
- LOST IN LOVE, the Air Supply Musical, one-night-only event produced by Triad Theatre benefiting the Actors Fund, and featured 2x Tony nominated actor Constantine Maroulis and Tony winning actress Andrea McArdle.
- GAME BOY, produced by TRU, featuring Tony Awardee Cady Huffman, for TRUSPEAK virtual gala.
- ICEBOX PLACENTA/PLAYGROUND PLACENTA, featured in Smith & Krause’s Best Women’s Monologues of 2019, Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom.
- Member: Dramatist Guild since 2011.
- Resident Playwright at 29th Street Playwrights Collective.
- Member ETC/Create Theater, and TRU.
- Columbia University BA in English/Writing.
Photo by Steven Pisano.
THE SCIENTISTS, with Farm Arts Collective and DREAM ON THE FARM at the International Human Rights Art Festival, at The Wild Project, NYC, 2021
THE SCIENTISTS, with Farm Arts Collective and DREAM ON THE FARM at the International Human Rights Art Festival, at The Wild Project, NYC, 2021
Melissa and her projects are affiliated with 29th Street Playwrights Collective, The Tank, Barefoot Shakespeare, CreateTheater/ETC in New York City and Farm Arts Collective, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, and Comedy Tribe in the Catskills.