Melissa McNamara has been performing, directing, and creating original and ensemble-driven work for over twenty years. Melissa received her MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University in Boulder, CO, and holds a BA from York University, Toronto, ON where she studied acting, devising and Political Theatre. To date, she has created over 30 original works with physicality and vulnerability as the creative force behind each one.
Melissa’s one woman show, Leaving Normal, won an audience choice award in NYC and was toured to sold out audiences in Minneapolis and Boulder. Melissa studied extensively in improvisation at The Second City Conservatory, UCB and Improv Olympic. She was a charter member of the Canadian Comedy Company, performed in Toronto Second City's Tony N Tina’s Wedding and toured Improv Festivals in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Vancouver with her 2 person experimental movement duo, Chairs. She was accepted into The Chicago Women's Funny Festival. Her web series, The Studio, she co-wrote, co-directed and stars in, can be found streaming on the Reel Women’s network.
In Chicago, she was movement director for Walkabout Theatre, BOHO, (re)discover Theatre, and Edge Theatre. She also directed Self-Evident which she devised as a response to the 2016 election. Now in LA, Melissa teaches Pilates teacher training courses internationally and is a proud co-owner of SolPop Pilates studio in Sherman Oaks along with Olya Fromer.
Her series, #_________, is a quartet she created in response to being in an abusive relationship with her ex-husband. In it, she uses the violence against her body as choreography along with either music, text and/or objects. Initially only performing at “safe houses” in Chicago, she eventually premiered this work at Mozawa’s Y Portraits and has also been the invited performance event at several gala fundraisers to raise money for survivors.
