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Comment: Please remove all external links from the body, and also see WP:AUTOBIO. Ensure that references provide significant coverage of Melis Aker specifically, and iMDB is not a reliable source and should be removed. Utopes (talk / cont) 18:08, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
Melis Aker is a writer, actor and musician from Turkey. She primarily works as a playwright and screenwriter.
Early Life and Education
editOriginally from Ankara, Turkey, Aker graduated from Tufts University in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in Dramatic Literature and Philosophy. She received her masters in Playwriting from Columbia University in 2018, under the tutelage of David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage.[1]. Aker also received acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and a PhD from King's College London.
Career
editAfter graduating from Columbia University, Aker was selected to join New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Playwriting Fellowship[2], Ars Nova’s Play Group[3], and the Dramatists Guild Foundation’s Playwriting Fellowship[4]. She received praise for her play Field, Awakening, which was placed on the 2019 Kilroy’s List, about a group of old friends’ untimely reunion on a football field in Istanbul on the eve of the attempted coup d’etat of 15 July 2016.[5] The play was slated to premiere at the Finborough Theatre in 2020, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[6]. She faced similar interruptions while working for Morgan Freeman’s company Revelations Entertainment to develop a feature screenplay.
Her feature screenplay “Arı” (Bee) took part in the 2019 Cannes Film Festival’s Maison Des Scenaristes marketplace[7]. Her short play Scraps and Things was commissioned by the Atlantic Theater Company for their Middle Eastern Mixfest[8]. The play was recorded shortly after for an episode of Playing on Air, directed by Neil Pepe, starring Carol Kane, for which Aker both co-starred and composed the audio soundtrack[9]. The piece received critical acclaim on The New York Times[10].
In 2022, Aker was named a Woman to Watch by the Broadway Women's Fund[11]. She also received an Off-Broadway production of her play with music, Hound Dog, which premiered at the Greenwhich House Theatre as a co-production between Ars Nova and The Play Company in New York, which was named on Time Out[12]. The same year, she was selected as the Signature Theatre Company’s inaugural LaunchPad resident writer[13], where she has written her commissioned play Fish[14].
In 2023, Aker completed filming her short film “Baba in Graceland,”[15] which was partly funded by the grant she received from the Sundance Institute[16]. The same year, she was selected among Theatre503’s cohort of 503Five[17].
Aker has released various songs as a singer-songwriter. She has appeared on stage, TV and film, including the Arena Stage production of Love in Afghanistan by Charles Randolph-Wright co-starring with Khris Davis[18], CBS’ “The Equalizer” alongside Queen Latifah, NBC’s “The Blacklist: Redemption,” and “Seneca” on HBO[19]
Works
editAs playwright:
editField, Awakening
Fish
Hound Dog (2022)
Indigo Dreams
Scraps and Things
As screenwriter:
editArı (Bee) (2019)
Baba in Graceland (2023)
Bait (2023)
As singer-songwriter:
editDirt] [EP] (2015)
The Little Prince [Single] (2015)
The Other Side [LP] (2016)
Fall Sessions [EP] (2021)
Winter Sessions [EP] (2022)
Spring Sessions [EP] (2022)
Summer Sessions [EP] (2022)
Filmography
editTelevision & Radio
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The Blacklist: Redemption (NBC) | Volkan Sadik's Daughter | S1E2: "Kevin Jensen" |
| 2021 | Scraps and Things (Playing on Air) | Cemre | Writer, Actor, Composer |
| 2021 | The Equalizer (CBS) | Mira Shah | S2E2: "The Kingdom" |
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Lacuna (short) | Woman | Co-director, Writer, Actor |
| 2019 | Seneca (feature) (HBO) | Asuman | |
| 2023 | Ayşegül on Tuesdays (short) | Ayşegül | |
| 2023 | Baba in Graceland (short) | Naz | Writer, Actor, Executive Producer |
External Links
editReferences
edit- ^ "Columbia University New Plays Festival 2018". Columbia University School of the Arts.
- ^ "New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellows". New York Theatre Workshop.
- ^ Sota, Pie Alexandra. "Ars Nova Announces Melis Aker '18 as a 2019 Play Group Resident". Columbia University School of the Arts.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "DGF Playwriting Fellow | Melis Aker". Dramatists Guild Foundation.
- ^ "The Kilroy's List | Field, Awakening | Melis Aker". The Kilroy's List. 12 June 2019.
- ^ "Whats On Stage: Field, Awakening at Finborough Theatre". Whats On Stage. 8 June 2023.
- ^ "Maison Des Scenaristed projects". Maison Des Scenaristes.
- ^ "The Meet the Writers panel from Middle Eastern MixFest - Atlantic Theater Company in New York".
- ^ "SCRAPS AND THINGS by Melis Aker". Playing On Air.
- ^ Phillips, Maya (12 January 2021). "My Ears Have Been Opened by the Audio Play Explosion". The New York Times.
- ^ Harms, Talaura. "Broadway Women's Fund Releases 3rd Annual Women to Watch List". Playbill.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "The 30 best Off Broadway shows to see in Fall 2022". Time Out.
- ^ Gans, Andrew. "Melis Aker Named Signature Theatre's 1st LaunchPad Resident Playwright". Playbill.
- ^ "Signature Theatre Company 2024/25 Season". The Signature Theatre Company.
- ^ "Baba in Graceland". Seed & Spark.
- ^ "Sundance Institute's New Interdisciplinary Program Names Grantees, Art of Practice Fellows". Sundance Institute.
- ^ Nettle, Gemma. "Theatre503 announces latest cohort for early-career playwrights scheme". The Stage.
- ^ Purcell, Carey. "World Premiere of Charles Randolph-Wright's Love in Afghanistan Begins Oct. 11 at Arena Stage". Playbill.
- ^ "Melis Aker | IMDB". IMDB.