August 2, 2012
Melanie Harker is a theatre artist, arts administrator, and anthropological enthusiast recently located to the DC metro area originally hailing from central New Jersey. She moved down to DC to spend a year with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company as their Connectivity Assistant, and later Connectivity Associate, helping to continue the development of the department, which strives to ignite an explosive engagement between audiences, the art, and artists. She also plays with local ensemble-based devised theatre company dog & pony dc as their Conspirator for Production Management and most recently served as d&pdc's Production Stage Manager for the remount of Beertown.
Melanie graduated Summa Cum Laude with Departmental Honors and a degree in theater from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania . She spent four years working in the university's Career Center, helping to mentor students, administer personality assessments, and guide peers to figure out what they should do after they graduate. Melanie has also spent time as an educator; she served as a Teaching Artist for new play non-profit theatre company Premiere Stages in Union, New Jersey and was a Drama Specialist for Camp Yachad in Scotch Plains, New Jersey (teaching 300 five through eleven year olds song and dance).
Melanie's love affair with improv developed in high school when she was thrown in (last minute) to a monthly short-form troupe performance. From there she went on to win two awards at a moderately prestigious New Jersey High School theater conference for her two person scene work. Melanie’s on-stage talents peaked in high school and has since enjoyed watching her (more talented) friends do sketch and Harold nights at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater in New York City. She’s excited to re-enter the improv universe in DC at WIT and is thrilled to be working with such a talented and inclusive community.
