our story

​Founded in 2008, the WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company is a consortium of theatre professionals
​and dedicated amateurs who are committed to producing quality theatre in a local setting.

We produce shows in a variety of venues, from outdoors to black boxes, schools to large theaters, warehouses to town halls.
Provocative theatre. Contemporary playwrights. New works. Local talent.

For the 2022 season, we are pleased to announce that WatermelonAlligator is again in residence at Cotuit Center for the Arts!

If you see our name, please come out and join us!

​

meet our creative team

managing & artistic director
​Jess Wilson

Photo of Jessica Ellis-Wilson, a pluz-sized white nonbinary person with blue eyes and short grey hair swept to the left, looking directly at the camera and resting their chin on their right hand while their left arm rests across their body with their left hand under their right elbow. They are standing in front of a grey-white background in a black wrap shirt with 3/4 sleeves. They have red nail polish on short nails, matching red lipstick, and a single stud earring is visible in their left ear.

Jess Wilson is a former C-level executive leader with extensive experience as an actor, tech, designer, producer, playwright, and director, and is the Artistic and Managing Director of the WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company. Jess is an accomplished author, consultant, executive coach, teaching artist, and speaker who conducts classes and workshops on culture transformation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B), public speaking, leadership, empathy, and a wide range of theatre disciplines, and frequently speaks across the country on a variety of healthcare, leadership, and humanitarian topics. 

Over the past few years, Jess has directed for many professional, community, and academic performing arts organizations, including WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company, Nemasket River Productions, Midsummer Shakespeare, Shakespeare On Vacation, Plymouth Community Theatre, and Cape Cod Community College.

An experienced actor-combatant, Jess works as an Intimacy Director, Fight Captain, and Safety Coordinator for stage and film, working most recently with Strange Place Productions and Cotuit Center for the Arts, as well as with all WatermelonAlligator productions.

Notable past performances include Alex (Church & State; WATC), Laurie in the NE Premiere of EA Kafkalas' Lopsided (WATC), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing; Midsummer Shakespeare/GHP), Helen (Fat Pig; WATC), Macbeth (Macbeth; Glass Horse Project), Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream; Shakespeare on Vacation), M’Lynn (Steel Magnolias; Plymouth Community Theatre), Lenny (Crimes of the Heart; Bay Players), Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing; PCT), and Megan in the world premiere of EA Kafkalas’ Lopsided (CCTC, PA).

Jess also works as a freelance lighting and sound designer and stage manager across New England.


associate artistic & tech director
​Garrett Olson

Photo of Garrett Olson, a white man with brown eyes and short red-brown hair parted down the middle and swept back from the face, looking directly at the camera with a smile. His left arm is crossed over his right arm, with the fingers of his right hand visible in the crook of his left elbow. They are standing in front of a background which is 2/3 red brick with white mortar and 1/3 painted white brick and mortar, split vertically behind Garrett's left shoulder. He is in a black v-neck short sleeve ribbed shirt.


Garrett Olson is an actor, director, screenwriter, musician and songwriter based on the South Shore and currently working regularly in theatre and independent films. His acting experience also includes music videos, voiceover work and television commercials.

Notable roles include Sen. Charles Whitmore (Church & State; WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company and Cotuit Center for the Arts), Tom (Fat Pig; WATC and CCFTA), Scrooge (A Christmas Carol; True Rep), Leo Clark/Maxine (Leading Ladies; NRP), Peter (PCT’s A Christmas House), Schroeder (You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; PBT), Jesse (Plaza Suite; NRP), various independent films and music videos and for several years, he was “brains” deep in zombies with roles in WATC’s How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse and Boston Zombie Apocalypse, where he also worked as technical director.

An accomplished fight director and combatant/instructor for stage and screen work, Garrett has most recently choreographed stage and screen violence for Strange Place Productions, The Glass Horse Project, and Curtain Call Theatre, as well as with all WatermelonAlligator productions.

Garrett is also an accomplished teaching artist, teaching a variety of performance skills for kids and adults.

​Garrett also works behind the scenes, involved with everything from set builds to sound and lighting design in local theaters and larger venues like Fenway Park and Bank of America Pavilion.

production manager
​Kasey Bishoff


​bio coming soon