Behind the Scenes with Melanie Allen (’14)

Melanie Allen (’14) has followed her passion for theatre stage management ever since her start in Valor’s theatre department. She graduated from Pepperdine University in 2018 with a BA degree in Technical Theatre and is currently working toward a Master’s of Arts in Stage and Event Management at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales.

Her hard work is already paying off! Mel has produced award-winning shows for international competitions and festivals in Scotland and Wales, and has spent part of this year interning at the prestigious West End theatre district in London.

Now, Mel (whose brother is Valor Center Systems Engineer Brennan Allen — also a Valor alum) is home this summer and is leading Valor’s tech theatre students in set building for the upcoming summer musical, Little Women, which runs August 22-24 (tickets available at Valortickets.com).

“We are thrilled to get her back at Valor for a bit,” said Valor Theatre Director Kurt Muenstermann. “She’s a professional now — it’s so cool to have her now teaching and managing students with the set building of a Valor production. We’ve watched her discover her artistic passion here, work hard through high school and college, earn her degree, win awards in international competitions and now turn professional! I’m really very proud.”

This fall, Mel is set to begin a prestigious internship in Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil’s ‘O’ Show. She was chosen for the ‘O’ team because of her impressive stage management and technical theatre accomplishments, and because she is a certified scuba diver, which will come in handy for this show of aquatic acrobatics and lyrical theatre on and under the water.

Mel hopes to stay on with Cirque du Soleil while she finishes her Masters work. She has already been on (back)stages across the globe and there will be many more big shows in her future!

Congratulations Mel!