Melissa (she/her) was born and raised on Lekwungen Territory, where she currently resides and works as a playwright, actor and director. In Victoria, she has worked as an actor for over a decade, with theatres such as the Belfry Theatre and Blue Bridge Theatre. As a playwright, her work has been produced by Theatre SKAM, Impulse Theatre and hapax theatre. She has co-facilitated the Belfry’s Creator Circle alongside playwright Kevin Kerr, and worked as a sessional instructor in playwriting at the University of Victoria. In Toronto, she worked as an actor and a playwright with various professional and independent theatres, such as Hart House Theatre, Newmarket National Play Festival, Driftwood Theatre, and the False Claims Collective. She completed her MFA in Playwriting at the University of Victoria, with her thesis project being a one-woman show based off of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, told through a subverted and empowered female narrative. She is currently the co-artistic director of Gangway! Theatre Co., and an Associate Artist at hapax theatre.