Biography

Melissa Flaim is a professional actress, educator and coach who lives and works in Washington DC. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and French from The Pennsylvania State University.  She is the Voice and Speech teacher and the Head of BFA in Acting for Theatre, Film and Television at TheCatholic University of America.  Ms. Flaim Introduc teaches Introduction to Theatre, in addition to her Voice classes for the BA and BFA students. As a Vocal Coach she has worked at Round House Theatre on their productions of: Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Handbagged, Book of Will, and Miss Bennet; Christmas at Pemberly.  She worked with Constellation Theatre on their production of Zorro. Ms. Flaim coached The Gaming Table at The Folger, and Woolly Mammoth’s production of Measure for Pleasure. For Baltimore Shakespeare Company: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Love’s Labour’s Lost. WSC/Avant Bard productions include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Scaramouche, Jumpers and Titus Andronicus. As a member of the faculty at CUA she has coached a number of productions including: Suddenly Last Summer, Hamlet, Macbeth, Bloody Poetry, Pride and Prejudice, The Revolutionists, Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Hollywood, Brutus, Tartuffe, Cymbeline, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui,, The Seagull, Romeo and Juliet and Love’s Labour’s Lost.  Ms. Flaim is also a vocal coach in the private sector and has clients in government, law, business, the liturgical and not-for-profit professions.

As an actress her performances in Washington include: Mrs. Dalton in Native Son at Mosaic Theatre,   Misa in happiness and other reasons to die, and Cheryl in Not Enuf Lifetimes for The Welders; Sophie in Treadwell Bright and Dark at American Century Theatre, Haley in Bad Dates at Olney Theatre Jacqueline in Wintertime for Roundhouse Theatre, Various Roles in Antony and Cleopatra, Olivia in Twelfth Night and Rosalind in As You Like It for The Shakespeare Project; Angels in America, Parts I & II at Signature Theatre;  Two Headed, Learning Curves and The Triumph of Love at Washington Shakespeare Company; the world premier of Amstel in Tel Aviv at Source Theatre; Kyle Donnelly's production of A Month in the Country at Arena Stage; Lenox in Macbeth and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, both for The Travelling Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger Library. As a company member of Bard on Wheels, she worked on both day-long workshops and eight-week residency productions of As You Like It, The Tempest, and Much Ado About Nothing as a teacher/coach, actor and director. In 1997 with Stan Kang, Elizabeth Kitsos-Kang, Hope Lambert and Tom Mallan she founded Educational Theater Company.  She worked on their premiere project, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and directed  Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and An Evening with Shakespeare for the company.