Melodie Thompson

Melodie Thompson is a live theater and teaching artist, specializing in coaching Classroom Teachers in Arts Integration (using arts as a teaching modality for core subject matter). She is the Founding Director of Worship Arts Restoration, Inc, and also serves as the Artistic Director for Maplestreet Performing Arts Center & Theater (MPACT) in Pawtucket, RI. Ms Thompson is a RISCA endorsed Performing Artist, who holds a Masters in Teaching and RI Secondary Special Education Certification. Best known as a professional Storyteller, Ms Thompson is also an accomplished actor, writer and dance teacher. She has contributed to theater arts for over 30 years. Her Rhode Island acting credits include: The Providence Black Repertory Company, "Tribute to Langston Hughes" (multiple roles); Mixed Magic Theater, "Celebrations: An African Odyssey" (mother, chorus); Brown University’s Rites and Reason Theater, "ChangeUp" (playwright and lead role), directed by the late Marsha Z.West; "Only a Woman: America’s Only Known Female Buffalo Soldier," (playwright and lead role), directed by Don Mays and toured nationally; and Mixed Magic Theater, "The Red Tent" (Rebekah), directed by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley. Ms Thompson's RISCA-funded research-to-performance pieces have included, "Only a Woman" and "Change- Up," as well as "Remembering and Forgetting", a portrait of one American Centenarian; and “Learning to Fly,” a film and dance-play collaboration with developmentally-disabled students and the Everett Dance Theater of RI. Her original productions include, "Sankofa, Set Free", an original dansical, written, choreographed and directed by Ms. Thompson and featuring a cast of over 30 dancers and actors; and "WAR Stories: Keep On-a Walkin,'" a multi-genre storytelling play, featuring a cast of over 20, funded by RISCA and URI Arts and Culture Dept, presented at Paff Auditorium. Ms. Thompson was a co-founder of the Rhode Island Black Storytellers, aka, RIBS (1998-2010) and founding Director and Choreographer for God’s Providence Dance Assembly (2006- 2012). Her work as a Brown University ArtsLiteracyTeaching Artist is acknowledged in the publication, "Reason to Read", by Dr. Eileen Landay and Kurt Wooton, Harvard Education Press (2012), and she has been awarded a citation by Governor Chaffee for her many years of innovative work with special needs populations in RI.  Ms Thompson offers workshops in Arts Integration for the classroom and Arts in Religion.

Fees are negotiable.