Melissa Dunphy

FORMER
PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR
CORE COMPANY MEMBER

Hailing from Australia, Melissa made her Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival debut in 2004 as Cobweb and musical director for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Some of her favorite roles with Gamut have included the Fool in King Lear, Ariel in The Tempest, Montjoy in Henry V, Hotspur in Henry IV and both Horatio and Ophelia in the educational touring version of Hamlet. She also composed music and played the violin for Gamut's production of The Glass Menagerie, and was the musical director for Gamut’s A Year with Frog and Toad.

Melissa has additionally appeared as Juliet, Marina and Lady Macbeth for Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Ophelia for the Lantern Theater in Philadelphia, Juliet for Theater of the Seventh Sister, Margot in Open Stage's The Diary of Anne Frank, and in several independent films. In Sydney, Australia, Melissa appeared on stage and television, and directed Rhinoceros and Amadeus for the University of New South Wales Theatrical Society. She holds a Bachelor of Music from West Chester University, an Associate Diploma in Speech and Drama from Trinity College of London and an Associate Diploma of Music from the A.M.E.B., and is currently getting her Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of Pennsylvania on a Benjamin Franklin Fellowship. Melissa has toured internationally as a violist with two orchestras and contributed to bands of all varieties as a live performer and session musician.

Melissa came on board as a core company member and public relations director of Gamut in June 2005, and was also the company's webmaster. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Matt, who assisted in the design and implementation of this website.