The Book

MELISSA LEILANI LARSON

Melissa Leilani Larson is a mixed-race Filipino writer based in Salt Lake City. Mel’s award-winning work has been enjoyed across five continents. Her adaptation of Pride and Prejudice recently sold out its entire run of 56 shows at the Hale Center Theater Orem, will appear at Texas Shakespeare Festival in July, and is being published by Stage Partners later this year. Mel’s work-in-progress, A Form of Flattery, is currently a finalist at several prestigious festivals across the country. Mestiza, or Mixed is one of five plays to receive readings at American Stage’s Lift Every Voice Festival.

Other recent productions include: Persuasion at Utah Valley University; Gin Mummy at Mesa Community College; Sweetheart Come (O’Neill semi-finalist) at Pygmalion Theatre Company. Other produced plays: The Post Office (AATE Distinguished Play Award), Little Happy Secrets, Pilot Program, The Edible Complex (Plan-B Theatre commission), Mountain Law (MCT Women’s Voices finalist), Bitter Lemon (Creekside Theatre Fest commission), Lady in Waiting (Lewis Playwriting Contest for Women winner), Standing Still Standing (Mayhew award winner), and Martyrs’ Crossing (IRAM Best New Play).

Her film credits include: “Jane and Emma”, “Freetown” and the shorts “Patience” and “Iscariot.” Mel is the only woman and the youngest person to receive more than one AML Drama award, and is one of two playwrights ever to receive four. In 2018 she received the AML Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters.

Mel is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Honor Roll!, and the Plan-B Theatre Playwrights Lab. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

melissaleilanilarson.com