Welcome

Hi! I’m Mel and I'm a writer. Feel free to browse the site to find out about me and my work. Don’t hesitate to contact me to learn more. Thanks for stopping by! This is what I’m up to at the moment:

IN THE THEATRE:

• Mel’s alma mater, Mountain View High School in Orem UT, will be staging PERSUASION February 21 - 24.

• GIN MUMMY will be staged at Utah Valley University March 1 - 9.

• BITTER LEMON will appear as part of Plan-B Theatre’s season April 11 - 28.

• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE will appear at Inspire Theatre Co. in February 2024, the Wayne Theatre in March 2024, and the The Grand Theatre in May 2024.

• Mel’s audio adaptation of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE will be recorded for Dramafy.com in February 2024.

IN THE PRESS:

• Mel is featured in a Salt Lake Tribune article by Palak Jayswal: “Shakespeare, Austen and a mummy: This Utah playwright set to open back-to-back-to-back shows.”

• Mel’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is about to open in Waynesboro, VA: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ brings love, story of family to The Wayne Theatre stage.

• UTBA reviewer Tara Haas wrote: “The most innovative production that I saw this year was RELATIVE SPACE: AN ATYPICAL MUSICAL… the musical comes together as a deeply emotional and powerfully moving story about topics that I wish we would explore more on stage.”

• Mel had the chance to write a blog post for Plan-B Theatre about their upcoming production of her (sort of) world premiere, BITTER LEMON.

• UTBA reviewer Rachel Wagner highlighted PRIDE AND PREJUDICE as one of the best plays she saw all year (and she saw a lot): “It was a perfect adaptation. I enjoyed it so much that I saw it three times.”

• Mel’s newest work in progress, A FORM OF FLATTERY, was recently named a finalist for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Mel is also included in a special cohort of 12 Honorable Mention playwrights described by Playwrights Foundation dramaturg Heather Helinksy as “exciting voices whose theatrical innovations and compelling stories excited our readers and are ready for a fast-track to production.”

• Opening night photos from RELATIVE SPACE are featured in the social pages of the September/October 2023 Salt Lake Magazine.

• Mel was interviewed by KSL.com about RELATIVE SPACE.

• Mel and co-director/choreographer Josh Long were invited to discuss RELATIVE SPACE on KUTV 2 Fresh Living.

• Together with co-director Shelby Gist, Mel visited Fox 13 The Place to talk about RELATIVE SPACE.

• From script to stage: Crew, staff hard at work on 38th Texas Shakespeare Festival season (including Mel’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE).

• THE POST OFFICE is featured in a list of one-acts for high school competitions on the New Play Exchange home page.

• Previews: The Lift Every Voice Festival at Broadway World

• “These Six Plays Will Debut at American Stage’s Lift Every Voice Festival” at Broadway World

• “ 'Pride & Prejudice' Is Perfectly Poised to Premiere” at Utah Theatre Bloggers

• “Welcome to the Radical Middle” at 15 Bytes

• “Based on a True-ish Story” at QSaltLake

Recent Happenings

Mel is currently adapting Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell’s North and South for the stage. She is drafting the adaptation as a special guest in the Fall 2023 Writer/Dramaturg/Actor workshop at Brigham Young University.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is now available for licensing through StagePartners. It also enjoyed an excellent run at the Texas Shakespeare Festival in July 2023.

Mel wrote the book for a new musical, RELATIVE SPACE, featuring original songs written by rising recording star Kjersti Long and her father Jeremy Long. The show was produced as part of the Creekside Theatre Fest in June and is currently being workshopped for an industrial staged reading in the coming months.

The film of Mel’s original short screenplay “Patience,” screened in June as a finalist for the 2023 Cannes Indie Shorts. Produced as part of Utah Valley University's annual FEMME Project, the film was directed by Chantelle Squires and shot by Bianca Cline, and features performances by Gail Bean, Marie-Françoise Theodore and Dan Lin. The crew comprised femme-identifying UVU film students.

GIN MUMMY received a staged reading on May 13 as part of The Harrington Center for the Arts’ Exploration of New Works.

The Liahona Preparatory Academy middle-schoolers presented THE POST OFFICE, along with the newly commissioned THE ORPHANAGE, for their spring play.

MESTIZA, OR MIXED was one of five plays selected to receive staged readings as part of the Lift Every Voice: New Play Festival at American Stage Theatre Company in St. Petersburg, Florida.

MOUNTAIN LAW represented Utah in States of Play, a 2022 reading series curated by playwright Rachel Rubin Ladutke featuring Zoom readings of plays by female-identifying playwrights from each of the 50 states.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, directed by Barta Heiner and featuring two fantastic casts, was a smashing success at Hale Center Theater in Orem. The entire run sold out ahead of opening night.

THE POST OFFICE was been selected as a 2022 American Association for Theatre Education (AATE) Distinguished Play Award recipient!

Mel’s book THIRD WHEEL, which comprises LITTLE HAPPY SECRETS and PILOT PROGRAM, has been included on a list of 100 significant works of Mormon Literature. The list was aggregated by a anonymous panel of LDS readers, librarians and scholars. See the full list here.

MESTIZA, OR MIXED, premiered as part of Plan-B Theatre’s 2022-23 season featuring new plays by playwrights of color. The play had Utah’s first-ever majority Filipino cast.

Check out the Rover Readings Zoom reading of PILOT PROGRAM. Also, JANE AND EMMA, starring Danielle Deadwyler, is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Mel now has a Wikipedia Page (and no, she didn’t create it herself). Her page and PILOT PROGRAM were featured on Wikipedia’s “Did You Know…?”, on November 8.