I have been privileged to have so many wonderful students over my years of teaching at Cochise College in southern Arizona. Melissa is one of them. I love her enthusiasm and drive to make her dreams come true. We had some internet issues in the beginning of the podcast. I hope you will excuse them and keep listening because Melissa had some unexpected suggestions for me, and you.
Melissa Villanueva was born and raised in a small Mexican town close to the US-Mexico border. She is 19 years old and a Musical Theater major. She came to the United States when she was 15-years-old and began her college education at 16. She currently works as a Freelance Illustrator and Concept Artist on Instagram and Youtube. She has taken singing, acting, and dance lessons, and plans on pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Musical Theatre. She has played the lead roles in classical Shakespeare plays including Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure. Additionally, she has performed various musical, classical, and popular music numbers in singing recitals and choirs in diverse venues. She is currently building her musical theatre repertoire with songs that range from the classics including The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables to much newer musicals including Anastasia and Hamilton. She hopes to one day star in a Broadway Musical.
Disney Movies especially Anastasia, (1997) Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, Directors (animated)
Anime: Kicki’s Delivery Service (1989) Hayao Miyazaki Director, Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) animaated, Hayao Miyazaki, Director, Studio Ghibli animation company, 22 movies, 20 TV titles. The first: The Take of the Princess Kaguya, (2013) Isao Takahata
The Rainmaker (1956) by N. Richard Nash, both play and screenplay Joseph Anthony, director
Stage Musical Anastasia, Darko Tresnjak, Director
Classic movie with Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia, (1956) Directed by Anatole Litvak
Favorite song, “In My Dreams” from Anastasia, Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Antigone by Jean Anouilh
The Midnight Gospel (Adult animated series directed by Mike L. Mayfield and Pendleton Ward)
The Caretaker – Everywhere at the End of Time – Stages 1 – 6 (Youtube, vvmtest)
Polish Artist and Sculptor, Zdzislaw Beksiński
Hammer Studios Horror of Dracula (1958) Terrance Fisher, director
A Quiet Place, (2018) John Krasinski, director
Get Out, (2017) Jordan Peele, director and screenwriter
The Blair Witch Project (1999) Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, Directors
Midsommar (2019) Ari Aster, Director
Good Night Mommy (2014) Severin Fiala and Veronica Franz, Directors
Alfred Hitchcock films
Bride and Prejudice (2004) Gurinder Chadha, Director Bollywood Films
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sage Woman Chronicles 