BIO of PLAYWRIGHT, MELINDA CORAZON FOLEY

Emerging playwright, Melinda Corazon Foley, introduced story ideas for “Masquerade” at the 1996 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and has since brought developing segments of the play to cities from NYC, to Denmark, London, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. “Masquerade” parallels the playwright’s own journey to persevere amidst a whirlwind of physical and spiritual trials.

Born in Cebu, Philippines, and raised in Virginia, Melinda relocated to the Bay in the mid 1990’s to present her original compositions in conjunction with Oakland’s La Peña Cultural Center; “10 Poets & a Mic," a collective of East Bay spoken word expressionists; "Pieces of the Quilt," a Campo Santo collection of short plays about the AIDS epidemic; and productions by San Francisco's Asian American Theater Company. In 1999, she took to national stages as part of the Silicon Valley Poetry Slam Team, which shared 1st place in the 1999 National Poetry Slam in Chicago, as reviewed by 60 minutes, the New York Times, and The Chicago Tribune. The exposure catapulted Melinda overseas to perform her innovative rhythmic-verse compositions in venues throughout London, Copenhagen, and on Radio P3, Denmark’s national radio station. Hardly content to pause, Melinda has since been presenting new musical collaborations and segments of her verse play at venues such as Massachusetts’ acclaimed New World Theater, the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, TX, the Los Angeles Grand Performances Summer Series “Turntablism Jam” in downtown California Plaza. and upcoming appearances at the 4th annual San Jose “Floricanto Festival” and “Intersection: Future Aesthetics” a project funded by the National Performance Network, and the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations.