Melissa Shaw - A Mentor And Friend

Melissa Shaw and I spent two years together in creative performance classes. She was a graduate student, I was an undergraduate. She was in the theater department I was in the dance department. Unlike other theater grad students she never treated me as if I was uninformed (even though I was) or inexperienced (even though I was). We worked together on several pieces and Melissa always took my suggestions seriously, often leaving me with only a loose structure to improv within. Melissa was also always willing to engage me (and the rest of the class) in drawn out discussions about “what is art? who owns art? what is an audience?” I learned so much from Melissa.

In our last semester together Melissa offered tons of constructive criticism on a personally difficult piece I was developing on being adopted. At times in my presentations I was hostile as I become emotional about the subject I was attempting to fictionalize. Melissa always took time out side of class to give me words of encouragement and advice about my piece. It really helped and I eventually was able to divorce myself emotionally from my work.

Above all else Melissa tried to smooth the lines between graduate and undergraduate as well as between different departments. This opened doors for me creatively as she inspired students to make connections outside their departments. I think that her example, politically and creatively, made a big difference at my college. For her goodness as a person and a creative example she deserves to be appreciated.