Melissa Crespo is CT born with Dominican, Puerto Rican and Chilean roots. She is a New York City based director of theater, opera and film. She most often directs world premieres and is also a producer, dramaturg and playwright. Melissa has developed work at LAByrinth Theater Company, New Dramatists, The Lark and more. She is most known for "¡Figaro!"(90210) which had it's world premiere at LA Opera and was produced twice Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street. Melissa also directed the most recent incarnation of "Tar Baby" written and performed by Desiree Burch with Dan Kitrosser. Hailed as one of Huffington Post's 'Favorite Female Comedians," Tar Baby was awarded the prestigious Scotsman Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has since had productions in NYC, London, New Zealand and Finland. Melissa co-write the play "Egress" with Sarah Saltwick which recently had a workshop production at Cleveland Playhouse. It will receive a world premiere production May 2020 at Amphibian Stage in Fort Worth, TX. She is currently adapting Angie Cruz's novel "Soledad" for the stage. Melissa has served as a 2016-2018 Time Warner Fellow at WP Theater, Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage, Van Lier Directing Fellow at Second Stage Theatre and is an alum of the Drama League Director's Project. She is a current Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and received her MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama.