Melissa Weisz (she/they) is an actor, writer, producer and consultant who grew up in the Hasidic community of Brooklyn. Melissa’s TV credits include the critically acclaimed shows Unorthodox, Little America, and High Maintenance. Their film credits include the award-winning films Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish, Felix et Meira and Tzadeikis. Melissa made her stage debut playing Manke in the NYTimes critics pick “God of vengeance.” Melissa co-wrote and starred in “Di Froyen” (The Women) which takes place in the Chasidic community and explores the plight of a young mother fighting for custody of her children. Featuring an all-female cast and performed in *Yinglish, Di Froyen had its first run in January 2022 at Theatre for the New city rave reviews. They were featured in Vogue’s “American women in transformation”, and the Jewish Weeks “36 under 36 -Millennials pushing change through compassion.” Melissa was the subject of NBC’s viral video “ex-hasidic woman embraces her queer identity”, as well as Them’s video “Can you be religious and queer?” Melissa is the co-founder and host of “the forbidden apple podcast” which explores the complex relationship between queer people and religion/faith.
LABA project description:
I’m working on a pilot about Queer Polyamorous love in NYC. We follow our protagonist as they fall for a married orthodox woman and have to confront their internalized biases. We explore themes of Identity, transparency , vulnerability, intimacy, religion and sexuality and how all of that plays out in polyamory. With great freedom comes great responsibility. Think “L Word” meets “Shtisel” meets “Couples Therapy”.
What Taboo would you like to break?
I would like to break the taboo about polyamory. I would like to explore how love can be freeing and expansive. I’m also very interested in breaking the idea that some parts of our identities clash with others-i.e. queerness and Judaism, religiosity and polyamory.