Melissa Leilani Larson

Melissa Leilani Larson

Melissa Leilani Larson is an award-winning Filipino American playwright and screenwriter whose work has been seen on four continents. Plays: THE MUMMY PLAY, MOUNTAIN LAW, SWEETHEART COME, THE POST OFFICE, BITTER LEMON, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, LITTLE HAPPY SECRETS, PILOT PROGRAM, THE EDIBLE COMPLEX, PERSUASION, MARTYRS’ CROSSING, and the book for the musical THE WEAVER OF RAVELOE. Her commission to adapt Kelly...
Melissa Leilani Larson is an award-winning Filipino American playwright and screenwriter whose work has been seen on four continents. Plays: THE MUMMY PLAY, MOUNTAIN LAW, SWEETHEART COME, THE POST OFFICE, BITTER LEMON, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, LITTLE HAPPY SECRETS, PILOT PROGRAM, THE EDIBLE COMPLEX, PERSUASION, MARTYRS’ CROSSING, and the book for the musical THE WEAVER OF RAVELOE. Her commission to adapt Kelly Barnhill’s THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON for Utah Valley University premiered in November 2019 and enjoyed a sold-out run. Feature films: JANE AND EMMA and FREETOWN (Ghana Movie Award, Best Screenplay).

In 2019, Mel was honored as the youngest person ever to receive the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters for her body of work. She is an O’Neill semifinalist, a Women's Voices Play Fest finalist and a Trustus Playwrights Festival finalist. Other honors include IRAM Best New Play, an NEA production grant, 2 Salt Lake City Weekly Best of Utah Arts awards, the Mayhew Playwriting award, the Lewis National Playwriting Contest for Women prize, and 3 Association for Mormon Letters Drama awards. Mel is a proud member of the Plan-B Playwrights Lab and Honor Roll, has served as an Art Access Mentor, and presently serves as the Dramatists Guild Regional Rep for Utah. MFA, Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

Plays

  • Sweetheart Come by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 4
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, horror + 1 more
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    Keyword: writing, letters + 8 more
    Genre: drama, horror, period
    Keyword: writing, letters, Schizophrenia, hypergraphia, hallucinations, marriage, love, mental illness, paper, Germany
    O'Neill Theater Center semi-finalist, 2016

    Emma Hauck realizes that her husband's political ambitions are changing him—and their marriage. She finds refuge in her writing, and in the unexpected friendship of a new servant. As both relationships grow more complex, Emma most face difficult truths about herself that she never knew existed.
  • Mountain Law by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, faith-based + 1 more
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    Keyword: Western, nature + 8 more
    Genre: drama, faith-based, period
    Keyword: Western, nature, loneliness, infidelity, abandonment, sin, Mormon, polygamy, poetry, Survival
    In the winter of 1850, Tamson English has been alone with three young children on the Western frontier for more than a year. Haunted by guilt over an extramarital affair, Tamson convinces herself that God has trapped her in the wilderness as a punishment for her sins. When she prays for a reprieve, an old friend appears at her door—but it’s hard to know if his coming is a miracle or a curse.
  • The Edible Complex by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    2–3
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    Genre: comedy, young audiences
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    Keyword: Body image, food + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, young audiences
    Keyword: Body image, food, imagination, eating disorders, mother and daughter, self-esteem, cooking, young audiences
    One act. 10-year-old Anna decides to stop eating so that she can look like the women she sees in magazines and on TV. But it's hard to ignore your food when it starts talking to you.
  • Pride and Prejudice by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    15–17
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Jane Austen, love + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, drama, period, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Jane Austen, love, pride, prejudice, Regency England, Classic, romantic comedy, romance, adaptation
    Almost from their first meeting, Elizabeth Bennet finds herself at odds with the reticent Mr. Darcy. She finds him cold and arrogant while he disapproves of her family and social standing. Brought together by events beyond their control, both must reconsider their first impressions. A crisp, new imagining of Jane Austen's most popular classic.
  • Pilot Program by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Mormon, LDS + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, faith-based
    Keyword: Mormon, LDS, polygamy, women, wives, husband, spouse, marriage, family, infertility
    What if you were called to serve in the restoration of polygamy? You could blog about it. An intimate look at first love, second wives and last chances.

    PILOT PROGRAM is the story of Abigail Husten, a childless woman asked to join her husband in a pilot program restoring polygamy to contemporary LDS/Mormon practice. Abigail brings her friend and former student into her home as her husband's...
    What if you were called to serve in the restoration of polygamy? You could blog about it. An intimate look at first love, second wives and last chances.

    PILOT PROGRAM is the story of Abigail Husten, a childless woman asked to join her husband in a pilot program restoring polygamy to contemporary LDS/Mormon practice. Abigail brings her friend and former student into her home as her husband's plural wife knowing that none of their lives will be the same.
  • Little Karl by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Cast: 
    1
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    Genre: drama, horror + 4 more
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    Keyword: radio play, storytelling + 8 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, period, radio drama, tragedy
    Keyword: radio play, storytelling, tragedy, pioneers, Mormon, Frontier, bias against immigrants, Western, horror, based on a true story
    10-minute radio play. "Little Karl" is a harrowing true story about good fences and bad neighbors. Swedish immigrants Annie and Andrew try to make a life on the Missouri frontier when their young son is stolen.

    This radio play was commissioned by Plan-B Theatre Company as part of RADIO SLAM in April 2020.
  • Little Happy Secrets by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama, faith-based
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    Keyword: LGBTQ, Mormon + 5 more
    Genre: drama, faith-based
    Keyword: LGBTQ, Mormon, LDS, gay, Lesbian, love, friendship
    Claire and Brennan have been best friends for years. But when the two are brought back together after two years apart, Claire wonders if the feelings she has for Brennan might go beyond friendship.
  • The Post Office by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Cast: 
    11
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    Genre: adaptation, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: teenagers, illness + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, fable/folktale, young audiences
    Keyword: teenagers, illness, friendship, Dystopia, Rabindranath Tagore, postal service, royalty
    One act. Teenaged Ash is suffering from a mysterious illness. Despite being confined at home by the doctor, she remains hopeful, winning over strangers with her positive attitude and imagining a better life for herself.

    A commissioned adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's classic.
  • Persuasion by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    16
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    Genre: adaptation, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: Jane Austen, adaptation + 6 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Jane Austen, adaptation, romance, memory, flashbacks, love, romantic comedy, redemption
    Adapted from Jane Austen’s beloved final novel, PERSUASION is a bittersweet story of first love and second chances. Anne Elliot, persuaded by duty and title to give up marriage at a younger age, now finds herself face to face with the man she once refused. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this new take on Austen’s quiet masterpiece is refreshingly theatrical while remaining faithful to the original text.
  • Bitter Lemon by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: Macbeth, death + 6 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Macbeth, death, afterlife, bargain, Relationships, forgiveness, inspired by Shakespeare, characters based on Shakespeare
    One act. A woman and a man with an awkward history find themselves together in the hereafter.

    BITTER LEMON was a commission written to accommodate a specific production conceit: two different actors perform it cold each night, script in hand, discovering the story and the characters along with the audience. If you read it, please keep the plot secret!
  • Martyrs' Crossing by Melissa Leilani Larson
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    8–16
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    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 4 more
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    Keyword: Joan of Arc, France + 8 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, faith-based, period, tragedy
    Keyword: Joan of Arc, France, Hundred Years War, History, saints, faith, library, afterlife, Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret of Antioch
    The story of Catherine, a Christian martyr who, after her death, is assigned to guide a young peasant girl as she becomes the woman history will revere as Joan of Arc. Accompanying Joan throughout her legendary career, Catherine finds that her influence directly affects the girl’s successes and failures. As Joan spirals toward the inevitable, Catherine questions her assignment and, ultimately, her own faith....
    The story of Catherine, a Christian martyr who, after her death, is assigned to guide a young peasant girl as she becomes the woman history will revere as Joan of Arc. Accompanying Joan throughout her legendary career, Catherine finds that her influence directly affects the girl’s successes and failures. As Joan spirals toward the inevitable, Catherine questions her assignment and, ultimately, her own faith.

    2005 IRAM Best New Play.