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1981-2009

Picnic Cause Celeb  Guiding Light  Love in 3 Minutes  I'm Not Rappaport  The Devil and Walter Cronkite
The Grass is Greener  Tom Jones Dark at the Center   Half Off    Houseguests   One Neck   Law & Order  
Dark Ride
  On Golden Pond

 

THE GRASS IS GREENER
Grass is Greener

Oldcastle Theatre Company presents Hugh and Margaret Williams' romantic British comedy, THE GRASS IS GREENER at the Bennington Center for the Arts
June 20-July 6.
The cast (seated): Bill Tatum, Melissa Hurst, Greg Skura, and Yvonne Perry. (Standing): Richard Howe.

ON GOLDEN POND
Oldcastle Theatre Company

Bennington Center for the Arts
July 13 - 29, 2007

"Hurst spoils the audience with yet another multi-layered portrayal of a woman in transition"
Bennington Banter

Golden Pond 4

"...beautifully portrayed by Melissa Hurst"
Post Star
Golden Pond 2

"...played meaningfully and persuasively by Melissa Hurst"
Berkshire Eagle

Golden Pond 3

"[Sheila] Childs and [Melissa] Hurst provide the heart, the color, the emotional dimension this production deserves."
Bershire Eagle

Golden Pond 1

THE DEVIL AND WALTER CRONKITE
by David Watkins
at The Church Street School for Music and Art
in NYC - Oct. 2007

Cronkite
Melissa Hurst (left) as "Mac Back from the War
in Iraq" in THE DEVIL AND WALTER CRONKITE

Cronkite
Melissa Hurst as "Mac Back from the War in Iraq" in
THE DEVIL AND WALTER CRONKITE

TOM JONES
Adapted by John Morrison
From the Henry Fielding Novel

Dorset Theatre Festival
2006

For her performance as Mrs Waters (et al) in TOM JONES, Melissa was the recipient of the Dorset Theatre Festival Golden Leaf Award for
Best Supporting Actress 2006 .

"Hurst nearly brought the house down in laughter."

"[Hurst] knows how play "bad and bitchy" but always imbues her characters with a sympathetic edge that makes them more real somehow."  Northshire Free Press

Tom Jones
TOM JONES:  Pictured from left to right - Melissa Hurst, Schyler Yancey, Terry Rabine, and Jenny Strassburg

"Individual perfromances were first rate...Hurst in particular, during her sparkle eyed dinner table scene, which culminated in the very intimate peeling and devouring of a banana, nearly brought the house down in laughter."    Bennington Banner

"The scene between Hurst's Mrs. Waters and Tom Jones at the end of Act One is pure brilliance, and took a courageous actress. Ms. Hurst was most definitely that actress."  Northshire Free Press

Tom Jones
Melissa Hurst and the cast of TOM JONES are featured on the cover of the 2007 Summer Theatre Directory, available at the Drama Book Store or online at: www.theatredirectories.com

PICNIC (Left)

CAUSE CELEB (Right)

 

 

Melissa as Flo in William Inge's PICNIC

FALL 2005 Melissa played the mother, Flo, in William Inge's PICNIC at the Oldcastle Theatre Company in Bennington, VT. 

September 30 - Oct 16, 2005 at the Bennington Center for the Arts.

"We feel for Hurst's sincere portrait of Flo as a lovely woman pathetically pitched on the brink of disappearing into the comfortable obscurity of her small Midwestern town.
                 The Advocate/Berkshires




Melissa has been an on-going cast-member of CAUSE CELEB!, the cult hit show that has performed around New York at Joe's Pub (Joseph Papp Public Theatre), The Cutting Room, and Fez.
GUIDING LIGHT
(Left)

LOVE IN 3 MINUTES
(Right)
GUIDING LIGHT
|
In the past year, she has appeared regularly as Mrs. Chitwood, RJ's nanny.
LOVE IN 3 MINUTES


She recently played Dr. Cambrini in the film Love in 3 Minutes, which has been showing at festivals throughout the U.S. (Liz Anwar, writer/director, Spike Lee, creative consultant). 
I'M NOT RAPPAPORT
by Herb Gardner
May 5-May 21
Oldcastle Theatre Company, Bennington Center for the Natural and Cultural Arts

"Hurst gives a compelling performance as a misunderstood daughter..."
Bennington Banner
 

2002
DARK AT THE CENTER
By Deborah Savadge

"Dark at the Center wins
TheatreFest Prize"
Reathel Bean, left, stars as a college professor accused of heinous crimes, and Melissa Hurst as his wife in the TheatreFest production of "Dark at the Center". 
 

"Melissa Hurst is magnificent"
"Melissa Hurst is magnificent as Jane, a woman as cultured as the pearls she wears, yet tainted by sordidness. How regal she is a first, as she is certain of her husband's innocence. How sad she becomes as she realizes that she has been in denial and that he his guilty.                             Newark Star Ledger

1997
HALF OFF
By Harry Kondoleon

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Ben Brantley
February 5, 1997

"Melissa Hurst and Crystal Field strike some comic sparks as feuding sisters-in-law.  And there are, as usual, some memorably bizarre epigrams.  'It's a good thing after burying the dead to go to bed early," notes Ms. Fields's character.  'they appreciate it.'"

1993
THE HOUSEGUESTS

By Harry Kondolean
Bartenieff/Field Theatre for the
New City at TNC

BACKSTAGE (June 4, 1993)
"... The cast is exceptional...  Hurst's passon and anger are like a random wind... "

"Melissa Hurst is passionate in both
her lust and her fury"
NEW YORK TIMES
Wilborn Hampton

"Hurst tears into some pretty unflattering tasks with an amusing what-the-hell attitude that lifts us over some rocky patches in the second act."
NEW YORK NEWSDAY
Jan Stuart

1992
ONE NECK

By Todd Alcott
The Atlantic Theatre

Village Voice
"Savage, Unsettling, and Extremely Funny!"


NY Newsday
"Splattered with Laughs!"


New York Times
"One Neck Provokes a Gasp!
Ferocious! Over the Edge!"


Chelsea Clinton News
"A Haunting Spine-Tinger!  Chilling and Comical!"


TheaterWeek
"Wicked, Witty, Explosive!"

WBAI
"Gripping!"

 


Clockwise from Top Left:  Allison Janney, Damian Young, Melissa Hurst, David Thornton

"Law and Order"
Ms. Weston
NBC

1981
DARK RIDE
By Len Jenkin
SOHO Rep

"I got my Equity Card doing this show.."


"You are there." "Where?" "Here?" "Who?"
Bill Sadler and Melissa Hurst in Dark Ride
   Service 212-978-8521