Playwright
Director, Storyteller, Producer
Cymraes
I see language as both an anchor and a fracture.
My work is deeply rooted in the duality of my Welsh and Brazilian heritage. As a fluent Welsh speaker, I draw from a tradition of lyrical imagery to explore the concept of home not just as a physical place, but as a collection of memories.
As a playwright, I find the extraordinary in the ordinary. I write to explore the quiet battles of women, the complexities of migration, and the humor found in vulnerability.
As a director, I translate these themes into the physical space with precision and openness, ensuring that every production is a collaborative, communal act of imagination.
Whether writing, directing or producing my mission is to create art that holds contradictions and celebrates the beautiful multiplicity of the human spirit.
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.
 The King's WifeThe King’s Wife is a feminist historical musical that reframes Tudor history through the voices of Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn—two women fighting for power, legitimacy, and survival inside a court built to erase them. |  The Inheritance of a Long-Term FaultA mythic-to-modern feminist play that braids two indigenous women facing a colonizing intruder with a contemporary woman scientist battling institutional sexism and reproductive control. |
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 Charlie's WaitingLouise, very pregnant and her fiancée Kelly, who’d rather be feeding the goats, on the night before their wedding are living the dream. When a destabilizing presence forces Louise to confront questions of trust and intimacy, their carefully built future threatens to derail fast. |  Brennan CenterThe Brennan Center Democracy Theatre Lab is commissioning and developing new democracy-focused plays with three extraordinary playwrights—Tsilala Brock, Enid Graham, and Rehana Lew Mirza. |
 The Smile of Her by Christine LahtiAn intimate, darkly funny two-hander in which Christine Lahti plays herself in dialogue with a young girl—part memory, part inner child, part future projection. Together they name and dismantle the everyday mechanics of misogyny. |  Pit by Melisa Annis dir Jeff WoodbridgePit (by Mêlisa Annis) is set in a Welsh mining village during the 1984 miners’ strike, where Thatcher-era pressure pushes a tight-knit community to the brink and survival turns morally complicated. |
 Scarce by Mrittika SarinIs a climate thriller screenplay featured at the 2024 Athena Film Festival, where it was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Athena List Development Grant. |  Matilda the MusicalDirected by Melisa Annis, nominated for 19 Henry Awards. Colorado Fine Arts Centre, Colorado Springs. |
 United Front by Melisa Annis dir. Kel HaneyIn a cramped council-flat, Kevin tries to keep life moving with his disabled father, Sergeant Corin. When a government worker arrives to assess Corin and their benefits are put at risk, their fragile “united front” fractures and the play asks what is the cost of the states demands in exchange for survival. |
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
