MELISSA R. RANDEL
BIOGRAPHY
Melissa R. Randel is a Los Angeles based actor, dancer, director, choreographer, and theatre maker. She is also an educator and Chair of Theatre Arts at Glendale Community College.
Originally from Portland, Maine, Melissa’s training began with her classically trained pianist-dancer mother and musician father. Melissa received her Bachelor's Degree in Dance at the University of California Irvine, where she trained under Anthony Tudor and Eugene Loring. Her acting training is an eclectic mix of Michael Chekhov technique, (Blair Cutting NYC) a two-year Stanislavsky-based conservatory theatre program (The Actor’s Space NYC) Kristen Linklater voice training (Orkney, Scotland), and physical theatre training in Suzuki, Viewpoints, and Composition from Anne Bogart and SITI Company members. (Skidmore College, NYC, Los Angeles)
Melissa began her theatrical career in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line, giving more than 2000 performances as Judy Turner, and understudying the roles of Cassie and Kristine. She considers the years she spent in A Chorus Line her true graduate school, although she does have Masters Degree in Dance from California State University Long Beach.
The desire to meld the worlds of dance and theatre began at Glendale Community College, in the Dance Department when she was interim chair for two years. Her pieces, Communion - visceral response to 911 - and State of Wonder – when the ordinary and the tragic collide - gave birth to the thematic material of The Hat.
Other devised pieces include collaborations: Asylum, This is NOT a Tree, We are Stardust, and Wonder City. Melissa is a proud Union Member of AEA, & SAG-AFTRA.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: "I don’t believe in boundaries in theatre. I use dance and music when words fail, and visual artists to design sets and props. Because of the physical demands of my work, I design my own costumes based on the stories they need to tell. The kind of theatre I strive to make is a direct response to what I feel is lacking in theatre today: I love when my brain is engaged – but not at the expense of the body. I love physical theatre, but I’m seldom moved. My goal is to unite the exquisite physical world of the body with the irreconcilable complexity of the heart."
Melissa R. Randel is a Los Angeles based actor, dancer, director, choreographer, and theatre maker. She is also an educator and Chair of Theatre Arts at Glendale Community College.
Originally from Portland, Maine, Melissa’s training began with her classically trained pianist-dancer mother and musician father. Melissa received her Bachelor's Degree in Dance at the University of California Irvine, where she trained under Anthony Tudor and Eugene Loring. Her acting training is an eclectic mix of Michael Chekhov technique, (Blair Cutting NYC) a two-year Stanislavsky-based conservatory theatre program (The Actor’s Space NYC) Kristen Linklater voice training (Orkney, Scotland), and physical theatre training in Suzuki, Viewpoints, and Composition from Anne Bogart and SITI Company members. (Skidmore College, NYC, Los Angeles)
Melissa began her theatrical career in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line, giving more than 2000 performances as Judy Turner, and understudying the roles of Cassie and Kristine. She considers the years she spent in A Chorus Line her true graduate school, although she does have Masters Degree in Dance from California State University Long Beach.
The desire to meld the worlds of dance and theatre began at Glendale Community College, in the Dance Department when she was interim chair for two years. Her pieces, Communion - visceral response to 911 - and State of Wonder – when the ordinary and the tragic collide - gave birth to the thematic material of The Hat.
Other devised pieces include collaborations: Asylum, This is NOT a Tree, We are Stardust, and Wonder City. Melissa is a proud Union Member of AEA, & SAG-AFTRA.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: "I don’t believe in boundaries in theatre. I use dance and music when words fail, and visual artists to design sets and props. Because of the physical demands of my work, I design my own costumes based on the stories they need to tell. The kind of theatre I strive to make is a direct response to what I feel is lacking in theatre today: I love when my brain is engaged – but not at the expense of the body. I love physical theatre, but I’m seldom moved. My goal is to unite the exquisite physical world of the body with the irreconcilable complexity of the heart."
Leap in the Dark Productions is a bicoastal, experimental Theatre/Dance company. Collaborations unite visual and performing artists in revelation of the human experience onstage.
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