Professional Seminars
The Professional Seminars feature experienced panelists hosted for members and guests. Seminars focus on a wide range of topics relevant to having a successful theatre career. Attendees can seek additional information via a moderated Q&A.
Recent Professional Seminar
Three Keys to Crowdfund Like a Queen with Melissa Center
In the next LPTW Professional Seminar, the Crowdfunding Queen herself and LPTW Member, Melissa Center, will lead you through 3 Keys to Crowdfund like a Queen. Through this hands-on seminar, you will learn how to set yourself up for success, walk away with practical tips, and be inspired to create (and fund) your own art.
RSVP to the seminar and read more about the panelist below.
Produced by — LPTW Board Member Illana Stein and the LPTW Professional Seminar Committee
Stage Manager
— Jessica Dell Beni (she/her)
Panelist: Melissa Center— Actress, Filmmaker, Crowdfunding Queen, LPTW Member
Melissa Center
Actress, Filmmaker, Crowdfunding Queen, LPTW Member
Melissa Center is an actress, award-winning filmmaker, and “The Crowdfunding Queen,” who has helped creatives raise over $1M for their passion projects. She is also an in-demand speaker who is known for bringing her intensely relatable & authentic stories to the world.
As an actor, her most notable credits include roles on FBI (CBS), This is Us (NBC), Grey's Anatomy (ABC), Masters of Sex (SHO), and more. Favorite roles onstage include 'Maggie' in A Chorus Line (Dir. Mitzi Hamilton), 'Olivia' in Sex with Strangers (Hollywood Fringe), and 'Jan' in 50 Words (The Lab Creative, LA). She also originated the stage adaptation of Lois Lowry’s The Giver, directed by the late Wynn Handman of The American Place Theater.
She is the producer, co-writer and star of feature film, All I Want (Prime, Vudu, TubiTV, itunes) and the co-director, writer and star of award-winning viral short film R.V, a narrative that anticipated the overturn of Roe vs Wade. Her short film His Name is Niv, which she wrote and directed, is inspired by her own experience with sexual
assault.
Her solo show Marrying Jake Gyllenhaal debuted during Pandemic lockdown via livestream at The Pico, LA followed by Edinburgh Fringe Digital to rave reviews & coverage in Ms. Magazine & Psychology Today. It will have its New York Premiere May 11th at Caveat.
For more information visit: melissacenter.com
