Melissa Heller

A sixteen year Portland resident, Melissa Heller is a native Oregonian, originally from Bend. She received a B.S. in Apparel Design while attending Oregon State University where her interest in costumes for theatre began. She began her work with the Oregon State University Theatres in 2006 as Assistant Costume Designer.

Since then, Melissa has served as the Costume Shop Manager and Resident Designer for Pacific university from 2014-2023, was a founding and current member of Bag & Baggage’s Resident Artist Company beginning in 2011, and has designed for a multitude of local area theatre companies and universities including Oregon Children’s Theatre; Broadway Rose; MHCC; Third Rail; Lakewood Theatre Company; St. Mary’s Academy; Open Hearts, Open Minds; Crave Theatre; Northwest Dance Project; and more.

Melissa currently splits most of her time designing for stage, building costumes as the Costume Craftsperson for Portland Center Stage, and being a partner and parent to her two best guys. She thanks OrpheusPDX for this engaging partnership.