Photo couresy of: NICHOLE PETERSON / NP IMAGES
The Story
Melissa Bangs is a storyteller at heart. For her, a true story with all of its highs and lows, its light and dark, its clarity and murkiness is the route to understanding, forgiveness and compassion.
Her hope is that by sharing her lived experience, boldly, with a dose of humor and self-love, others will be inspired to shed their shame, find forgiveness & tell their own true stories.
As we deeply hear one another and offer our truest voices... we transform.
In September 2012, at 40 years old, Melissa Bangs gave birth to her beautiful daughter Adelaide. A month later, dramatically hormone depleted and sleep deprived, Melissa is admitted to the Providence Psychiatric Facilities in a complete manic state. After nearly a month, she is sent home with a bipolar diagnosis and on lithium. What comes next is an extraordinary journey.
One of the things Bangs did as she healed was read her entire hospital record. Somewhere, around page 87, there is a nurse’s note that reads, “Patient says she will do comedy on this experience.” Upon reading this, Bangs laughed out loud.
The psych team couldn’t have known that Bangs did comedy for a stint, as a student, at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade in New York City. They couldn’ t have known that transforming the most painful experience of her life into a room full of laughter would prove healing for thousands of people.
Bangs has a knack for telling true stories that cut to the bone of our shared, vulnerable human condition. Her true gift, however, comes in the moments in which she’s able to strip away the shame or agony of an experience and transform the room into an uproar of laughter.
Photo courtesy of: MICHAEL GALLACHER / MISSOULIAN
Melissa painting in her Missoula studio
Melissa Bangs
Melissa Bangs is fifth generation Montanan on her dad’s side and draws her roots all the way back to Roger Williams and Providence, Rhode Island on her mom’s.
In her many years away from Montana, Melissa worked as a labor organizer, a development director of an international human rights organization, a Spanish teacher and a nonprofit consultant with an emphasis on strategic planning, fundraising, board development and facilitation.
Her journey away from Montana took her to Santa Cruz, Mexico, Chile, San Francisco, El Salvador and New York City.
In 2004, Melissa brought her nonprofit consulting business home from NYC and worked with well over 100 nonprofit organizations throughout Montana before the birth of her daughter, Adelaide, in 2012.
Between 2015 and the present, Melissa has drawn on her comedic roots from the Upright Citizens’ Brigade in NYC and shared her story with thousands of people.
Melissa toured with her husband, Eric, daughter, Adelaide and their 130 pound dog, Etta James. Their journey has led them all over Montana, on a year-long West Coast Tour, to DC, NYC and beyond.
All along the way Melissa’s mantra has been, “If my story does nothing else, may it unleash yours.”
Parallel to her performance journey, Melissa developed a peer-led storytelling workshop designed to allow mom’s to excavate their truest voice around traumatic and painful experiences in early parenthood.
In 2018/19, Melissa produced and directed MOMedy, a highly collaborative performance, presenting the hilarious yet heart-wrenching early parenthood stories of 7 moms and a dad.
MOMedy was performed multiple times in Missoula, at the statewide perinatal mental health conference in Fairmont in 2018 and at the Dennison Theatre in Missoula for Mothers’ Day 2019. Mini MOMedy(s) have been performed on the Flathead and Northern Cheyenne reservations in partnership with OG MOMedienne, April Iris Charlo of the Flathead Nation.
April and Melissa, with support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana went on to then lead storytelling workshops for indigenous moms in Lame Deer, the Flathead and Billings.
In partnership with Maternal Mental Health NOW in Los Angeles, Melissa has led a series storytelling workshops for moms grappling with trauma and loss in the perinatal period. In the spring of 2020, she directed two virtual storytelling events in LA.
At the close of 2020, in partnership with MMHNOW and with funding from the California Healthcare Foundation, Melissa is created a Train the Trainer for mama survivors/maternal mental health advocates from diverse communities throughout LA. These advocates will replicate this cutting-edge peer-to-peer model for releasing and healing trauma through excavating your story and sounding your voice.
Melissa is also the founder and emcee for HMHB’s Perinatal Mental Health Conference which, in 2020, brought together over 250 providers from all over MT, CA and WA.
Currently Melissa is homeschooling Adelaide (one of the most creative journeys of her life!) and parallel writing her next show and first book… “MAMA”. She will perform excerpts of this emerging work virtually via a series at the MARSH Theater in 2021. Audiences will get to hear/see/feel excerpts and then engage in a meaty conversation about the work… engaging in the creative process and perhaps finding their fingerprints on the final work. Melissa is beyond thrilled to go on this journey with Stephanie Weisman, the Creative Director and Founder of the Marsh, and the incredible Marsh audience.