Signature Theatre Names Melis Aker Inaugural LaunchPad Resident Playwright

Signature Theatre has announced its first-ever LaunchPad Resident-playwright, actor, and musician Melis Aker-inaugurating the new program that supports diverse early-career playwrights and expands the organization's singular mission of producing a body of work by each resident writer. The LaunchPad Residency seeks to advance an early-career playwright's voice, body of work, and professional development.

Over a three-year period, LaunchPad offers a resident playwright holistic artistic support, including two $15,000 commissions, a full production in the 99-seat Ford Studio, a workshop production, healthcare benefits, developmental readings (toward production), an annual theatergoing stipend, a writing retreat outside of NYC, private workspace at Signature, and guided mentorship by a Spotlight or Premiere Signature resident playwright. As Signature searched for its first LaunchPad Resident, it put out an open call for submissions (which closed in October 2021), asking for playwrights to submit bodies of work-so as to get a panoramic sense of their writing. Over 230 playwrights applied, with over 500 plays submitted.

Signature Theatre Artistic Director Paige Evans says of Melis Aker, who was born in Turkey and lives between New York and London, "Melis' work is filled with vividly drawn characters and worlds that she knows well but that American audiences may not necessarily be as familiar with. Melis asks crucial questions about what needs to be translated culturally for an audience and what doesn't. That intersection of cultures, which runs through her body of work, was so compelling to us, and we're thrilled to have Melis as our inaugural LaunchPad playwright."

Signature Theatre Director of Artistic Programs Iyvon E. says, "We really wanted the process of selecting our LaunchPad resident to be open and democratic and remove barriers to entry. What I wrote on social media when I posted about the opportunity was: 'Here's this really amazing opportunity, here's the info, send me your plays.' We didn't make an arduous application process, and people felt very welcomed by that, and knew that whoever advanced, it was based on their writing - not their resumé and who they worked with previously. It was: 'Did your story end up rising and resonating with the group of diverse readers that I made sure were part of this process?' We're so happy to have arrived at Melis' work, which offers a very international perspective, and expands the breadth of the visions Signature Theatre nurtures and presents."

Melis Aker says, "There are two resources in particular that I believe young writers like myself yearn for: time to create work tethered to an informed process, and financial compensation for that time spent figuring out what your process even is, so that you can have a tangible outcome, and intentional impact. I am deeply grateful to Signature Theatre for providing me with both, and for their robust, longstanding investment in my career as a writer. I have long been an admirer of the advocacy Signature provides for playwrights, especially in their commitment to developing and producing a body of work by a given writer. It is rare to experience an oeuvre in an economy and industry that promotes speed and brevity, so it is a proper gift to be supported by an artistic team who champions patience, and provides both a microscopic and bird's eye view into the journey of a creator. I am honored and humbled to be in conversation with Signature, and with the legacy of virtuosic theatre-makers they have held up along the way."

LaunchPad is Signature's newest residency program, building on its long-term commitment to playwrights' bodies of work. Other programs include the Premiere Residency (formerly Residency 5), which supports the development and production of several new plays by each resident playwright, and the Spotlight Residency (formerly Residency 1), which offers a deep dive into an established writer's body of work through productions of three or more plays, both new and reimagined. Playwrights in all residencies, including LaunchPad, become Legacy Playwrights, with the potential to have their work staged under the banner of Signature's Legacy Productions-celebrating previous Signature Writers-in-Residence by continuing to produce their plays.

About Melis Aker

Melis Aker is a writer, actor, and musician from Turkey, based between London and New York. Her plays have been commissioned by and developed at Atlantic Theatre (Middle East Mixfest), Ars Nova (Play Group member), NYTW (2050 fellow), O'Neill, NAMT, New Group, Dramatists Guild (DGF fellow), Roundabout Space Jam, LaMaMa, The Lark, Noor, Golden Thread Productions, 24 Hour Plays, Magic Theatre, Corkscrew Festival, BRIC, Golden Thread, and Silk Road Rising in the U.S., as well as the Finborough and Park theatres in London.

Melis' plays include: Hound Dog (Ars Nova Off-Broadway premiere TBA), Field, Awakening (2019 Kilroy's List, Columbia@Roundabout finalist, Sundance final-round, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor final-round, Playwrights Realm finalist); Dragonflies (2019 Sundance finalist); Scraps and Things (Playing on Air, starring Carol Kane, reviewed by the New York Times); AZUL (O'Neill NMTC); When My Mama Was a Hittite (Columbia@Roundabout finalist); Fractio Panis (Homebound Project/No Kid Hungry, starring Brian Cox); Manar (Columbia@Roundabout finalist, Theatre503 Playwriting Award semifinalist); 330 Pegasus: A Love Letter (Jerome NY Fellowship final-round); Indigo Dreams; OPET Diaries (Lark MEA Lab); and Gilded Isle. Her screenplay ARI (Bee) was at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival as part of Maison des Scenaristes, and her pilot of MANAR was accepted to Orchard Project's Episodic Lab, Trans Atlantic Partners, and IFP week. She has also worked on the development of a screenplay with Revelations Entertainment headed by Morgan Freeman. She is a recipient of the Sundance Interdisciplinary Program grant.

Selected acting credits include: The Equalizer (CBS), The Blacklist: Redemption (NBC), Seneca (HBO Max), Love in Afghanistan (Arena Stage & Roundabout), We Live in Cairo (NAMT, New World Stages), Proof (Edinburgh Fringe). Her song The Unknowing was in the final reel of the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk contest. Melis has worked as Ayad Akhtar's assistant, and given a StoryCorps and TEDx talk. She is a proud member of The Lark's Middle East America writers room, and a Young Society Leader through the American Turkish Society. On the side, she subs Sarah Gancher's playwriting class at NYU, teaches playwriting grad students at The New School, and is working on a novel to be published through her PhD at King's College London.

Upcoming: Melis is currently developing a musical play with Benjamin Scheuer and Jemima Williams based on their illustrated book Hundred Feet Tall, and on a new play commission from Ars Nova. Field, Awakening (Kilroy's List) will receive its world premiere at the Finborough Theatre in London directed by Rory McGregor (dates pending). She will be voicing a recurring role in an upcoming audio series from the creators of "Archive 81." Previous training: Columbia (MFA), Tufts (BA), RADA (Acting). Representation: CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

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