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Merlyn Q. SellDirector of Education and Outreach |
Merlyn Q. Sell grew up in the Black Hills and appeared on and behind stages in South Dakota, California, and Virginia. She holds a BA in Theatre from Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park California and an MLitt and MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. She was a member of the 21-22 South Dakota Change Network cohort and, as part of that program, produced the Black Hills Story Exchange.
As an educator, Merlyn has taught at Mary Baldwin University and the College of Saint Mary, as well as leading Shakespeare workshops at middle and high schools as a teaching artist. As a playwright, she has mentored students in productions of her works at The College of Saint Mary (Sweet Are the Uses), Santa Rosa Junior College (Circus Acts), and Mary Baldwin University (One Woman Town). She has presented papers at the Blackfriars Conference and at the Wooden O Conference, and is published in the Wooden O Journal.
Merlyn was a founding member of Actor’s Basement, a theatre company in Santa Rosa, California. In her time there she directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and Romeo & Juliet. As a playwright she was involved in workshop productions of her scripts Circus Acts and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Only. While in California she was also fortunate to work with Narrow Way Stage Company, Pegasus Theatre Company, and The Raven Theatre. In Staunton, Virginia she was a company member of Sweet Wag Shakespeare where she directed a three person touring production of As You Like It, played Polonius in a touring production of Hamlet, Caius Lucius in Cymbeline, and Old Man in One Woman Town.
Since returning to the hills, she has found opportunities to work virtually with Marin Shakespeare, Sweet Tea Shakespeare, Brave Spirits Theatre, and written and produced a podcast, The Horned Moon Presents. Locally, she has directed for Firehouse Brewing Theatre Company (Doll’s House Part 2, The Wolves), BHCT's mainstage (Macbeth, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Sense and Sensibility, and Julius Caesar) as well as for BHCT's Cherry Street Players (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.) She has appeared onstage at BHCT as Ginger in Book of Days, Callie in Stop Kiss, Helen in The Penelopiad, and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar.
As an educator, Merlyn has taught at Mary Baldwin University and the College of Saint Mary, as well as leading Shakespeare workshops at middle and high schools as a teaching artist. As a playwright, she has mentored students in productions of her works at The College of Saint Mary (Sweet Are the Uses), Santa Rosa Junior College (Circus Acts), and Mary Baldwin University (One Woman Town). She has presented papers at the Blackfriars Conference and at the Wooden O Conference, and is published in the Wooden O Journal.
Merlyn was a founding member of Actor’s Basement, a theatre company in Santa Rosa, California. In her time there she directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, and Romeo & Juliet. As a playwright she was involved in workshop productions of her scripts Circus Acts and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Only. While in California she was also fortunate to work with Narrow Way Stage Company, Pegasus Theatre Company, and The Raven Theatre. In Staunton, Virginia she was a company member of Sweet Wag Shakespeare where she directed a three person touring production of As You Like It, played Polonius in a touring production of Hamlet, Caius Lucius in Cymbeline, and Old Man in One Woman Town.
Since returning to the hills, she has found opportunities to work virtually with Marin Shakespeare, Sweet Tea Shakespeare, Brave Spirits Theatre, and written and produced a podcast, The Horned Moon Presents. Locally, she has directed for Firehouse Brewing Theatre Company (Doll’s House Part 2, The Wolves), BHCT's mainstage (Macbeth, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Sense and Sensibility, and Julius Caesar) as well as for BHCT's Cherry Street Players (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.) She has appeared onstage at BHCT as Ginger in Book of Days, Callie in Stop Kiss, Helen in The Penelopiad, and Mark Antony in Julius Caesar.