Playwright - Director
“What you’ll find about Melisa’s work is that she can make you laugh and turn the table on you in a way that you weren’t expecting in her extraordinary manner of playwriting.” - Ludovica Villar-Hauser, Artistic Director of Parity Productions
“The King’s Wife is a mightily sung, smartly directed and designed entertainment.” — Lou Harry (arts journalist) on the Constellation Stage + Screen production.
“An extraordinary play … a provocative, thought-provoking look at how colonial patriarchal behaviors and attitudes about women’s roles persist into the present day.” — TheaterScene.net (Scotty Bennett)
“It is a wonderful thing when a dazzling talent announces itself and better yet when it is seen and acknowledged.” - Theresa Rebeck, Playwright
“Melisa doesn’t write one kind of play. She won't put herself in a box. She has infinite interests and she is not afraid to write about them. Her curiosity takes her to dangerous places. She is brave.” - Cusi Cram, Playwright
“Annis’s playwriting keeps us laughing even as it unsettles us… a knack for creating tension that crackles.” — Dale Elrod, OffOffOnline, on Charlie’s Waiting.
About Me
I am a Welsh-born playwright, director, producer, and theatre maker, now based in Brooklyn, New York. A fluent Welsh speaker, I draw deeply on my cultural roots for my storytelling and personal essays.
My writing work has been developed and presented by organizations such as Primary Stages, The Lark, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Rosalind Productions, Parity Productions, The Wales Millennium Centre, Playwrights Horizons, and others. Kind accolades and awards include the True West Award for a radio series For Spacious Skies where I was lead writer and show runner for the twelve part series, and the 2021 Spirit of the Festival Award in Ireland for my short play Beginnings.
Beyond writing, I am also an active theatre director and a creative (and) line producer, with credits across theater and film, including collaborations with The Sloan Foundation, Athena Film Festival, Red Bull Theater, Ambassadors Theatre Group (London), Arcola Theatre (London), Shadowland Stages, Berkley Rep and others.
My personal essays have appeared in outlets like The Western Mail, on BBC Wales (TV, Radio and Websites), Salon, and HowlRound.
My Artistic Statement (if I must):
I'm interested in theatre and create theatre and stories that explore the hidden edges of identity, belonging, and the quiet resilience of ordinary lives.
My work is deeply shaped by my Welsh roots and Brazilian heritage, cultures whose rhythms, languages, and mythologies infuse my storytelling with a sense of duality; an exploration of home as both place and memory, language as both anchor and fracture.
As a fluent Welsh speaker, I am committed to amplifying voices that are too often underrepresented, drawing from a rich tradition of oral storytelling and lyrical imagery.
As a playwright, I am drawn to narratives that sit at the intersection of the personal and the political, exploring intimacy, humor, and vulnerability against broader social landscapes. My plays often wrestle with questions of belonging, fractured family dynamics, migration, and the quiet battles that shape women’s lives.
As a director, I work with precision and openness, fostering rehearsal rooms that are collaborative, rigorous, and curious. I seek a balance between emotional truth and formal invention, ensuring that the heart of the story remains alive while inviting theatricality and boldness in the staging.
Whether writing, directing, or producing, my mission is to create art that sparks empathy and celebrates multiplicity. I believe theatre is a communal act of imagination, one that can hold contradictions, bridge cultures, and remind us of our shared humanity.
Teaching & Workshop Guidance
Mêlisa teaches dramatic writing and directing for writers at NYU, Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing, and is currently also shepherding playwriting groups with ESPA at Primary Stages. Other workshop guidance and leadership of writing groups include; working with returned veterans with the Wounded Warrior Project, teaching playwriting to teenagers for Rattlestick Theatre, guiding the workshop process for women over 50 with Clutch Productions.
For more information about taking class with Mêlisa at Primary Stages, please contact sarah@primarystages.org or visit www.primarystages.org
Sights & Sounds
