For some people, theater begins with a script. For others, it begins with a stage.

For Melissa Leach, it began much earlier — with family, imagination, and the feeling that art could make people laugh, cry, and see the world a little differently.

Growing up, Melissa was surrounded by theater. Her father acted and directed, and local theater became part of everyday life. Rehearsals, performances, backstage moments — all of it left a mark. She fell in love with the possibility of being onstage, of stepping into a story and helping others feel something real.

That early love eventually evolved into a creative life as a playwright, director, and occasional actress. After studying theater and English literature at CU Boulder, she discovered that while acting first drew her in, writing and directing gave her a deeper sense of purpose.

Building Something of Her Own

Those paths led Melissa to The Three Leaches Theatre, the company she helped build with a vision that still guides it today: create compelling, meaningful stories that feel accessible, honest, and deeply human.

That spirit now has a home in the 40 West Arts District, where The Three Leaches has spent the last year and a half growing into more than just a theater company. It has become a gathering place for our community.

One of the theater’s defining values is accessibility. In a time when many arts experiences can feel financially out of reach, Three Leaches has embraced a pay-what-you-can model, rooted in the belief that theater should belong to everyone.

“The arts can feel like such an elitist pastime,” Melissa says. “Everybody should have access to theater.”

That philosophy is more than just ticket prices. It’s about making room for more voices, more stories, and more people to see themselves — or someone very different from themselves — reflected on stage.

A Space for All Forms of Creativity

Since moving into their 40 West space on Teller Street, the company has expanded its mission beyond plays alone. The venue now hosts gallery exhibitions, live music, dance performances, classes, and workshops, creating a truly multi-use creative space that mirrors the diversity of our district itself.

That openness has brought in an exciting mix of collaborators, from dance companies and samba groups to visual artists and underground musicians.

It has also created a place where different forms of art can coexist under one roof, each adding something unique to the neighborhood’s cultural energy.

With support from 40 West Arts and the Lakewood-West Colfax BID, the company is also preparing to launch more educational programming, including youth camps, after-school arts opportunities, and adult classes in playwriting and acting.

For Melissa, that work is about performance as much as it is about empathy.

“The arts are so important because they just, I think, make us better people in general,” she says.

A Place to Belong

That belief comes through in everything The Three Leaches creates — through the stories they put on stage, and in the way they invite people into the process.

Theater, Melissa says, teaches people to look at a character’s motivations, fears, and humanity. In doing so, it helps us practice seeing one another with more understanding in real life.

At its core, The Three Leaches Theatre is offering something increasingly rare: a space where art feels personal, welcoming, and alive. That kind of place matters in today’s world.  And it’s right at home Lakewood’s 40 West Arts District along West Colfax.

Because sometimes the most meaningful community spaces are the ones that ask us to sit down, open up, and step for a moment into someone else’s story.