Melanie Gretchen, based in New York, is executive producer, writer, and principal actor in the award-winning office romance "Like a PowerPoint," and the upcoming psychological thriller "The Back Garden."  

Since "Like a PowerPoint" premiered last September at the Paris Independent Fim Festival, it has won 22 awards for acting, directing and composing.

Originally from the Bay Area, she went to school in the Philippines, Malta and Switzerland. After earning her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Denver, she studied acting with Karen Kohlhaas and the Atlantic Theater Company in New York.

She is the 10th person ever to complete Karen Kohlhaas's 20 Monologue Challenge, to perform 20 memorized pieces consecutively, in the 10 to 15 years that Karen has offered it.

In addition, she is a Founding Supporter of the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum in Clarksdale, Missippi, where the playwright grew up, and plays softaball around New York City.