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Melinda Lopez

Melinda Lopez is the Playwright in Residence at the Huntington Theatre.  Her plays include Mala (Arts Emerson, IRNE nominee, Best Solo Performance), Becoming Cuba (North Coast Repertory, Huntington Theatre), Orchids to Octopi (Central Square Theatre), Caroline in Jersey (Williamstown), Sonia Flew (Elliot Norton, Best New Play, IRNE Best New Play, Huntington Theatre, Steppenwolf, and others), Gary (Steppenwolf First Look, BPT), and others. Melinda is also an actress (Grand Concourse, Appropriate, Our Town, Motherfucker with the Hat, Persephone...) Melinda does other stuff, teaches, humanitarian aid to Cuba, has a dog, and a daughter. 

an actor onstage
Reaching One Audience Member at a Time
Essay

Reaching One Audience Member at a Time

18 May 2020

Staff members at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts discuss their response to their theatre’s closure due to COVID-19: calling audience members and reading them monologues over the phone.

three actors onstage
"Dream Bigger"
Essay

"Dream Bigger"

Developing Artistic Ambition as Playwrights in Residence

27 November 2019

Rehana Lew Mirza and Melinda Lopez talk being playwrights as well as actors and teachers, critiquing their own work, their individual work processes, and more.

The Huntington Playwriting Fellows
Essay

The Huntington Playwriting Fellows

a Model for Community Building

25 June 2017

Playwright Melinda Lopez and Charles Haugland discuss the ins and outs of the Huntington Theatre Company’s Playwriting Fellows program, and how it can serve as a model for other companies looking to fill a need in their communities. 

The Huntington Playwriting Fellows
Essay

The Huntington Playwriting Fellows

Lisa Timmel, Local Playwrights, and Radical Hospitality

24 June 2017

Huntington Theatre Playwright in Residence Melinda Lopez talks with Director of New Work Lisa Timmel about the company’s new play development program and practicing generosity.

An interview with Melinda Lopez on the State of Female Characters in Drama
Essay

An interview with Melinda Lopez on the State of Female Characters in Drama

9 November 2016

Allison Raynor talks with playwright Melinda Lopez about women on stage: who she writes, how she writes them, and who she’d like to see.

Why I Paid Too Much for Tickets to Hamilton, and Other Musings on the Fragility of Life
Essay

Why I Paid Too Much for Tickets to Hamilton, and Other Musings on the Fragility of Life

28 April 2016

Playwright Melinda Lopez shares her experience buying tickets to see Hamilton, and addresses the cost of watching a Broadway show versus the cost of caring for her mother.

Why Melinda Lopez, Why Huntington?
Essay

Why Melinda Lopez, Why Huntington?

15 March 2016

Artistic Directer Peter DuBois and Melinda Lopez express why their partnership has been both so natural and so successful.

The Constant Gardener
Essay

The Constant Gardener

Melinda Lopez Reflects on Her Mellon Residency and Repotting

12 October 2015

Commons Producer Miranda Craigwell interviews Melinda Lopez about her experience as Playwright-in Residence at Huntington Theatre Company. 

The Mathematical Constant Grief (g!) as a By-Product of (Time)(Work) + Lorca
Essay

The Mathematical Constant Grief (g!) as a By-Product of (Time)(Work) + Lorca

9 September 2014

I wrote this summer, but all channeled through the Lorca lens. Translating when you are sad, I can say, is a very good thing to do. You can experience wild creativity within very safe margins. It’s Lorca’s play. But I get to stand in his skin, and pretend. I get to leave the sad couch of my mind, and go somewhere else. Lorca is my Virgil.

Poem
Essay

Poem

Dispatch From the Suburbs

9 March 2014

I have been making apple scones / For a friend who died / Doug, my neighbor, whose last name / I don’t know

The interior of the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston.
Interview with Lydia R. Diamond, Melinda Lopez, and Kate Snodgrass
Essay

Interview with Lydia R. Diamond, Melinda Lopez, and Kate Snodgrass

25 October 2012

Dramaturg Jessie M. Baxter sat down with playwrights Lydia R. Diamond, Melinda Lopez, and Kate Snodgrass; all three writers bridge the space between practice and academia.