Melissa Crespo (she/her/hers) is from Connecticut with Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Chilean roots. She is a director of theater, opera, and film. She most enjoys developing and directing new work. She is also a producer, playwright, and educator.

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As a director, Melissa has developed work at New Dramatists, The Lark, The Playwright's Center, and theatres around the country & abroad.

 

As a playwright, Melissa co-wrote Egress with Sarah Saltwick. Egress was produced as a workshop production at Cleveland Playhouse in 2019 and received the Roe Green Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwrighting. Egress received a world premiere production in 2021 at Amphibian Stage, followed by another production at Salt Lake Acting Company in 2022.

 

She is a Founding Editor of 3Views on Theater, an online theater journal conceived by The Lillys. 

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Melissa has served as a Time Warner Fellow at WP Theater, Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage, and Van Lier Directing Fellow at Second Stage Theatre, and is an alum of the Drama League Director's Project. She is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and received her MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama.

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She is the current Associate Artistic Director of Syracuse Stage.