Mêlisa Annis

Mêlisa Annis is an award-winning playwright and director whose work has been developed and presented by Rosalind Productions, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Paramount Theatre, ATF Theatre, Primary Stages, Clutch Productions, BMG Music, Parity Productions, The Lark (including at the Theresa Rebeck Writers Colony with Dorset Theater Festival), The Wales Millennium Centre, Parsnip Ship, The New School, The Playground Experiment, Rattlestick Theater, Tangent Theater, And Toto Too Theatre Company, RAL, and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

As lead writer of the radio series For Spacious Skies, Mêlisa received a True West Award (CO), and her short play Beginnings was honored with the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2021 Festival in Ireland.

Her directing credits include work with The Sloan Foundation, MoMI, Athena Film Festival, Red Bull Theater, Primary Stages, Ambassadors Theatre Group, The Arcola Theatre, London, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (Matilda the Musical, nominated for 19 Henry Awards), Shadowland Stages, Tangent Theater, HERE Arts Center, Rattlestick Theater, CUNY Queens College, Rebellious Subjects, The Playground Experiment, NYU, and Theater Masters.

As a producer, she has served as both line and creative producer: The Waves in Quarantine (written by Lisa Peterson & Raul Esparza, music by David Bucknam and Adam Gwon, directed by Lisa Peterson for Berkeley Rep), and Glimpse (written and directed by Theresa Rebeck).

Mêlisa’s essays have been published in The Western Mail, Cara, Dinesydd, Salon, and HowlRound. She is also a frequent contributor to the BBC, BBC Wales, and BBC Radio Wales. Mêlisa is a proud fluent Welsh language speaker, and she teaches playwriting at the Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU and Primary Stages ESPA!