MELIS AKER (Playwright) is a writer, actor, and musician from Turkey based between London and New York. Named a “Woman to Watch” by the Broadway Women’s Fund, Melis is the Signature Theatre Company’s LaunchPad resident playwright and is amongst Theatre503’s 503Five, with commissions from both theatres. She is developing the musical play Hundred Feet Tall with Benjamin Scheuer directed by Katy Rudd for the Old Vic, and her play Murmurs at Theatre503 in London. She is in post-production for her short film "Baba in Graceland," which was developed in part via her Sundance Interdisciplinary Program grant. Her audio series NIGHT/SHIFT is also in development with Skybound Entertainment. 

Melis has had writing commissioned by and developed at various theatres in the U.K. and U.S., including Atlantic Theatre Company (Middle East Mixfest), Ars Nova (Play Group member), New York Theatre Workshop (2050 fellow), Dramatists Guild (DGF fellow), New Group, the Finborough and Park theatres. Her screenplay “ARI” (“Bee”) was at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival as part of Maison des Scenaristes. Previous TV screenplays have been showcased and developed at IFP Week and Orchard Project's Episodic Lab, and she currently has a series under consideration by the BBC. She has also worked on the development of a feature screenplay with Revelations Entertainment headed by Morgan Freeman.

Her stage plays include: Fish (Signature Theatre Company); Indigo Dreams (Williamstown); Field, Awakening (2019 Kilroy’s List, Columbia@Roundabout finalist, Sundance finalist, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor semifinalist, Playwrights Realm finalist); Dragonflies (Sundance finalist); Scraps and Things (Playing on Air, starring Carol Kane, directed by Neil Pepe, featured on the New York Times); AZUL: A Bilingual Musical (Jonathan Larson award, O’Neill NMTC, NAMT, NYC Women’s Fund); Hound Dog (Ars Nova & PlayCo), Fractio Panis (Homebound Project/No Kid Hungry, starring Brian Cox). Acting and music credits include: “The Equalizer” (CBS, starring Queen Latifah), "The Blacklist: Redemption" (NBC), “Seneca” (HBO Max), Love in Afghanistan (Arena Stage & Roundabout Theatre Company), We Live in Cairo (New World Stages), Proof (Edinburgh Fringe). As a singer-songwriter, Melis has released a quartet of seasonal session EPs with acoustic versions of her songs via Studio 42. 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 has taught at NYU, The New School, and is working on her debut novel through her PhD at King's College London, where she also teaches. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, a Certificate for Acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and a BA from Tufts University. She is represented by CAA and Curate Management. www.melisaker.com.