Jill Melanie Wirth is an actress, singer, and writer of one-person-one-act "dramedies."
212.462.3008
JillMelanieWirth@aol.com


Jill Melanie Wirth (also known as Jill Wirth) has performed in theatre, film, television, concerts, commercials, and voice-overs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London. Jill has appeared in theatre and music productions at such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, Carnegie Hall, BAM Next Wave Festival, Vineyard Theatre, La Mama E.T.C., AMAS, The York Theatre, and Westport Country Playhouse. She has also appeared at the 92nd Street Y as a soloist in the Meet the Virtuoso series. Jill Melanie Wirth appears regularly as a vocalist at Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment.

Jill Melanie Wirth has worked under the direction of such theatre legends as Patricia Birch, Tom O’Horgan, Joseph Chaikin, John Vaccaro, and André De Shields. Jill Melanie Wirth worked in the development process of such musicals as Stephen Schwartz' Children of Eden (Playwrights Horizons) , Doug Katsaros' Valadon and Orphan Train (The York Theatre); as well as Artie Shaw's Dreamweavers (directed by Jamibeth Margolis). Her work in experimental theatre at La Mama ETC, includes Tom O'Horgan's THE PLAGUES, William Hoffmann/John Vaccaro's ETIQUETTE, and Lonnie Carter/André De Shields' LEMUEL. Jill and David Wirth produced, directed, as well as acted in the premiere stage production of Charles Willeford's HIGH PRIEST OF CALIFORNIA. On TV Jill Melanie Wirth starred opposite Mandy Patinkin in NBC's television special "Sureness of the Morning" as well as in countless commercials and voice-overs (commercial CD available upon request). Other television work includes Law & Order, One Life to Live, and Guiding Light.

As a writer/performer, Jill Melanie Wirth’s one-person-one-act "dramedies" have been commissioned for Off-Broadway, Women's History Month, and Black History Month productions. Her one-person-one-acts have also been produced by The 92nd Street Y, in Festivals, as well as "curtain raisers" for longer works. Jill Melanie Wirth's works have been developed at Dixon Place, Abingdon Theatre, The Workshop Theater, Mabou Mines, and with Artistic New Directions. Jill has also performed her one-person-one-act "dramedies" for a hospital Ethics Committee, at the Morris-Jumel Mansion, for New York Public Schools, and at the New York Public Library. Some of her works include: Long Term Care, Life Support, Rufus to the Rescue, Robeson at Peekskill, This is for You Daisy Ellington, The Fanny Kemble Story, Stop Spinning! Stop Rushing!, Indian Love Call, Sex Sells!, PC Pull-Ups, and All Orgasms Are Not Created Equal.
PLEASE SCROLL WAY DOWN FOR A DESCRIPTION OF WORKS.

Often addressing her work to important sociopolitical issues, she had the privilege to appear on the London stage in attorney/writer Andrew Vachss' BORN BAD for which she received critical acclaim. Jill also appeared in Mr. Vachss' REPLAY, which focuses on child abuse, and initiated a staged reading of REPLAY in London as well as at the New York Public Library to bring awareness to PROTECT, the National Association to Protect Children. She and David Wirth produced a theatrical adaptation of Alice Vachss' book "Sex Crimes" and developed international theatre projects focusing on crime investigation. Jill Melanie Wirth is proud to have served on the advisory board for PROTECT, the National Association to Protect Children. Please join! http://www.protect.org/

Jill Melanie Wirth is fomerly known as Jill Kotler. She is originally from Chicago where she studied acting with Dr. Bella Itkin at The Goodman School of Drama, Bud Beyer of Northwestern University, and John Malkovich at Steppenwolf Theatre. She began her career in Chicago Theatre in productions at Hull House, The Body Politic, with The Chicago Stategy Theatre Company (under the direction of June Pyskacek) and with The Halcyon Commedia Dell Arte Repertory Company. Additional training includes Shakespeare with Andrew Wade from The Royal Shakespeare Company; Speech with Shane Ann Younts; Improvisation with Del Close of Second City; Grotowski with Raina Von Waldenburg; 'Acting with Passion' with Niki Flacks, Inner Voice with David Friedman, and Singing technique with Dr. Robert White. Jill is a member of Actors' Equity Association (AEA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Personally: Jill earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. She has worked extensively with head-injured adults and has done volunteer work with abused children. She does hospital volunteer work for Aids and hospice patients. Jill throws pottery, does yoga, and gardens. Jill Melanie Wirth is married to actor/martial artist/book dealer David Wirth.

DESCRIPTION OF WORKS

JILL MELANIE WIRTH’s one-person one-act "dramedies" cover topics which range from personal to cultural, from political to historical. Audiences who have attended performances have found the pieces to be entertaining, thought provoking, as well as enriching. The pieces are executed through text, song, and movement.

LONG TERM CARE Mrs. Pink, a social worker caught between the needs of an individual and the demands of the bureaucracy that employees her; takes Ms. Brown, a family member, on a tour of a long term care facility. The story is told through text, song, and dance.

LIFE SUPPORT examines in a serious/comic way the ethical dilemma and repercussions of keeping someone with "no hope" on life support.

RUFUS TO THE RESCUE involves puppetry of two hound dogs Rufus and Cleopatra. Rufus saves the day and teaches Cleo a thing or two about what’s truly important in life.

ROBESON AT PEEKSKILL A woman recounts, through text and song, the importance of Paul Robeson to her mother. It details how the tragic events that occurred at the Robeson concert in Peekskill NY in 1949 affected her mother’s life.

STOP SPINNING! A woman relives her mother’s mistakes.

THIS IS FOR YOU DAISY ELLINGTON is a tribute to Duke Ellington’s mother. Daisy Ellington’s spirit is summoned, and learns, through text and music of Duke Ellington (a dozen songs) what she missed of her son’s later life, and how her influence shaped him and his music.

STOP RUSHING! It will get you no where!

BUTLER’S ISLAND BLUES:The Fanny Kemble Story provides a tour of Butler’s Island, where Fanny Kemble wrote Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, which is said to have influenced England against the Confederacy during America’s Civil war. Fanny Kemble, a 19th Century British Actress, is seen as she struggles to reveal the truth about American slavery and defies the will of her merciless plantation owner husband.

INDIAN LOVE CALL is a one-person-one-act "dramedy." The play is executed through text, song, percussion, and movement. It takes a satirical/fantastical look at the assimilation of a pre-Columbian Native American into modern society. Dr. I.M. White, a Ph.D in "cultural anthropology" proceeds to change an Indian from head to toe.

A SEXUAL TRIPTYCH: In Sex Sells! a woman isn't satisfied with being satisfied. In PC Pull-Ups, a woman goes to extreme measures to save her marriage. And, Orgasmic Fusion involves puppetry of two hound dogs, Rufus and Cleo.

JILL MELANIE WIRTH

actress/singer

writer of one-person-one-act "dramedies"

212.462.3008

JillMelanieWirth@aol.com

JILL MELANIE WIRTH
212.462.3008

JillMelanieWirth@aol.com

photo: Victor Skrebneski