Melissa was born and raised in Prince George. She began acting at the age of 4 after being bitten by the theatre bug when she played a baby spider in ‘Charlotte’s Web.’ She also participated in local speech and drama festivals, and local and regional music and dance festivals. Melissa moved to Calgary after high school to further her professional development in the theatre performance program at Mount Royal University. After working as an actor, Melissa decided to shift her focus to directing. She took over Deborah McGladdery’s ‘Bard in the Yard’ summer program in 2013 when she started her own acting studio, Shooting Stars Theatre. This program has allowed Melissa to flex her directing muscles whilst tackling Shakespeare and kids! In 2014, Melissa assistant directed her first play at Theatre NorthWest. Since then, she has worked on several productions and has learnt so much and has begun to find her own directing style. In the fall of 2019, Melissa was invited to attend the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and work as an assistant director on the presentation series. Melissa has also directed some stage readings at Theatre NorthWest and is looking forward to beginning other programs to enrich local talent. She is interested in furthering her professional development and is very excited about the future of Theatre NorthWest.