May was an exciting month with the launch of my new company, The Anthropologists, and our first official show together, Falling, based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. Commissioned by Flux Theatre Ensemble, our piece delved into the themes of falling in lust and falling in and out of love using text from Midsummer and a montage of music and images.

The cast featured:

Jean Goto
Sarah Lemp
Liz Maestri
Jennifer Moses
Jennifer Perrotta
Katy Rubin
Sonja Sweeney
with a special appearance by Shayna Padovano

Visit our website at www.theanthropologists.org

Coming up next:
I'll be directing a wild short play called Walkabout a.k.a. Reverse Continental Drift Syndrome by Marcus Haupt at The Flea. The play is a meditation on global warming, death and the joy of just being a kid. The performance will be held on Friday, July 18th. More details coming soon!

Hi Folks!

After a delay in updates I have some news for you. September saw two works-in-progress for me. The first was a staged reading of Through the Aperture directed by Jill Landaker as part of Katheringe & Friends (KNF) a series for new work held at The Directors's Company in NYC. Actors Included: Monica Cortez, Mark Cisneros, Cary Hite & Paola soto.

At the end of teh month, the same festival hosted a work-in-progress showing of a new piece I devised and directed along with a fantastic cast called The Columbus Project. This piece was inspired by a short article highlight first-hand reports about Christopher Columbus. Through original and found text we are investigating how we know what we know. The fabulous ensemble included: Jean Goto, Baris Tuncer, Sonja Sweeney, Liz Maestri, Ricardo Perez-Gonzalez, Gordon Woods and Alex Demers. We are about to start up rehearsals for the second workshop of this project - I'll keep you posted.

Currently I am working on a script for a new full-length play commissioned by Highwire Theatre for spring 2009. This month, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) awarded me a grant for a development of this play! As part of the grant, we will be presenting a public reading of the play up in my neighborhood, Washington Heights. Stay tuned for more details!

Also, been thinking about brushing up on you monologue? Need a new approach to auditioning? Check out my Coaching Page for information on private and group coaching. Auditions are so incredibly important for actors in NYC - here's and opportunity to improve on what you have and add some new skills to your toolbox!

Thank You!!!

Melissa

Staged Readings at Highwire Theatre Company's highwiretheatre.org Testing The Line new play series!

February 4th:  Melissa directed the full-length comedy, Dancing Downstream by Bill featuring Josh Bywater, Sonja Sweeney, Shayna Padovano and Joost deMunck.

February 18th:  Melissa's new play Through the Aperture was directed by Jill Landaker with the following cast:  Jean Goto, Kenric Green, Jason Griffith, James Harris Jr., Daisy Taveras, Paola Soto and Rachel Beth Wagner.

Next up:

In May Melissa will be directing two shows! 

First up: The Untitled Potato Play.  This play is based on a recipe for Shakey's Mojo Potatoes (a chain restaurant in California).  What I thought might be a fictitious history of Shakey's life and a brief history has turned into a story of conquest, murder and greed set in South America.   Find out the true history of the potato the first two weeks of May during Milk Can Theatre Company's ten-minute play series, The Potluck Plays.   Check milkcantheatre.org for the dates and location!

And then….a staged reading of Octavio Solis' beautiful Dreamlandia, a border culture drama set in Texas and Juarez, Mexico based on the classic Spanish play, Calderon's Life is a Dream.  The play is being produced as part of an enormous, amazing and ambitious project that Flux Theatre Company is doing called The Dream Project, an exploration of Calderon de la Barca's Life is a Dream or La Vida es Sueno.  Check them out at fluxtheatre.org.  Check back for details including the performance date and location!

Left/Left/Left by Laura Henry (Pictured right)
Directed by Melissa Fendell and Laura Henry
at the Six Figures Theatre Company's Artists of Tomorrow Festival
November, 2006 * West End Theater * NY, NY

with: Daryl Crittenden, Stephanye Dussud, Gary Ingham, Joanne Joseph, David
Licht and Dawn McGee.
stage manager: Emily Paige Ballou
Lighting Design: Chris Cotone
Sound Design: Wes Shippee