Melinda M Short earned her M.F.A. in Lighting Design from the University of Washington in 2008 and then spent the next three years in Seattle putting her new skills to use.  She currently resides in Los Angeles after relocating during the summer of 2011 but still travels to Seattle to design for Kent-Meridian High School, where she is the Resident Lighting Designer.

While in Seattle, she had the opportunity to design for Seattle Fringe Theatre and dance. She was the Resident Lighting Designer for Theatre off Jackson, where she met and worked with some of Seattle's very inspirational and talented theatre artists.  

Her designs include work created under compulsion for the Memory War Theater Project, The Theory of Everything for SiS Productions at Richard Hugo House, and Cheronne Wong's Seattle premiere of "sub-Rosa" at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and subsequent New York premiere at Joyce SoHo.  

At Theatre off Jackson, her designs include the Solo Performance Festivals, Keefee’s House of Cards, Ham for the Holidays and Shine: A Burlesque Musical.  

She’s had the opportunity to light the stage for youth actors, including Snow White and the 7 at the Moore Theatre, 13 The Musical at Youth Theatre Northwest, and Little Shop of Horrors at Kent-Meridian High School.  

She also had the good fortune to design for special projects such as The Infection Monologues for Gay City Health Project at the Erickson Theatre off Broadway and People Bridges for the Wing Luke Asian Museum.  

Melinda has designed for Velocity Dance Center, Evoke Productions, Hot Little Hands from Portland and NW New Works at On the Boards.