Melissa Bell
Photo by Monika Maresca
I’m an intravist, that is, I try to get into the interior of people’s lives – what’s driving them? Betrayal? Obsession? Madness? My protagonists are women, so of course they are testing their power and repression. Their humanity means they are at the whims of nature and fate, and yet they must shake the world they’ve been given. Like all of us, they are figuring out their path, trying to make sense out of a complex and confusing world, and if they could just get that one thing they need most everything would make sense. Well, actions have consequences. I’m trying to tell people how not to act – don’t do this because this lady’s gonna do it and watch what happens to her, learn from her and don’t f-ck up your life. Life is long, and there’s a lot of time to f-ck it up.
So, really, I’m figuring stuff out through my work, but I find myself adapting classics because the themes run so deep, are so profound. My works aren’t pure adaptations, because I mess with them a lot. The original text is like a springboard with the set up and the archetypes from which to draw and then jump off and into a new pool to swim around in. There’s the shallow end and the deep end to explore. Sometimes the blinders are on so I’m not really knowing where I’m going with this thing. It’s a bit of a mess, but then the actors enter and the character is standing and speaking right before you. And the director has a vision of where to take this play and suddenly it starts to make sense. The physicality of the play makes it work. It’s real people with real problems that need addressing. At least it’s enough so that people come up at the dump and say how moved they were by that play. And I’m very grateful for that. Very grateful.
www.TheMelissaBell.com
AWARDS
Honored Finalist: ZOE COMES HOME: Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Collaboration Award, with director Laurie L. Guzda, 2025
Nominated “Best Adaptations & Modernizations” by New York Shakespeare: LADY CAPULET, 2020 & 2021
Quarter Finalist: LADY CAPULET: ScreenCraft Playwriting Competition, 2021
Honored Finalist: COURAGE: Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Collaboration Award, with director Tannis Kowalchuk, 2019
Finalist: LADY CAPULET: Pegasus PlayLab, Central Florida University, 2019
Winner: Diana Amsterdam’s Story Skills Contest, 2019
Finalist: LADY CAPULET: Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women, 2017
Semi-Finalist LADY CAPULET: TRU (Theatre Resources Unlimited) Reading Series, 2017
Honorable Mention: PLAYGROUND PLACENTA: TentSquare West Side Stories Monologue Challenge, 2015
PRODUCTIONS:
ZOE COMES HOME Tusten Theatre, Narrowsburg, NY, produced by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Oct 7-8, 2022, May 5-6, 2023, and May 20, 2023, at Bernie Wohl Theatre, NYC, produced by 29PWC. Honored Finalist, WAMC Collaboration Award, 2025.
LADY CAPULET produced by Barefoot Shakespeare Company in Central Park, Farm Arts Collective Arts Center, and Bernie Wohl Theatre
"Tantalizing" "Juicy" --RoundtheWorldstage.com
READ the interview on writing LADY CAPULET here.
Nominated “Best Adaptations & Modernizations” by New York Shakespeare: LADY CAPULET, 2020 and 2021
Watch LADY CAPULET Sizzle Reel
DREAM ON THE FARM, 2019-2024, Decalogue of eco-dramas, set on Willow Wisp farm in Damascus, PA, performed by Farm Arts Collective, featured in the New York Times Arts, Aug 14, 2021, Read Article HERE
DEVIL & THE DEEP, a Musical Reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Theater 43, aka The Mint Theater, June 2015, Produced by Theatre East.
“Conceived by the team of Graham Russell (of Air Supply) and Katie McGhie (music/lyrics), and Melissa Bell (book), there are many moments which are marvelous in their ingenuity.” --Theaterscene.net
COURAGE, a site-specific, immersive theatrical journey based on “Mother Courage and her Children” by Bertolt Brecht. Featuring Debra Winger. World Premiere produced by NACL Theatre on NYC's Governor’s Island and in the Catskills, 2017. Directed by Tannis Kowalchuk; Playwrights Melissa Bell and Mark Dunau. Music by Rima Fand. COURAGE was an Honored Finalist for the Women in the Arts and Media Coalition 2018-2019 Collaboration Award.
“COURAGE makes a lasting impression” —The Sullivan County Democrat.
"Wildly inventive"... "stunning" --The River Reporter.
LOST IN LOVE, a one night only event, raised over $5,000 to benefit the Actors Fund, and featured Constantine Maroulis, Andrea McArdle and Graham Russell, who also wrote the score, produced by Rick Newman and Peter Martins at the Triad Theatre, June 2012.
"Newly created songs mix with Air Supply classics like "All Out of Love" and "Sweet Dreams" to tell the comic tale of a conniving matchmaker, an Italian prince looking to marry for money, and the childhood sweetheart who unexpectedly comes back into his life." –Playbill.com
STAGED READINGS:
FINDING MADAME CURIE, Book by Melissa Bell, Music & Lyrics by David Kurkowski. Performed at MusiCoLab, as part of Philly Theatre Week at The Drake. April 13-14, 2024. Video HERE.
GAME BOY: Produced by Theater Resources Unlimited virtual gala, TRUSpeak, starring Tony Award Winner Cady Huffman; Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop Festival of New Plays, 2022; SUNY Sullivan, V-Day Festival, 2023. Premiered at the Future is Female Festival, 2017.
LOVE, SEX, ANARCHY, Staged Reading with talkback, Shetler Stage 54, NYC; Staged Reading with talkback, Corner Store Arts Center, Washington, DC, 2015; Excerpts performed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, Mar 28, 2015, as part of Support Women Artists Now (SWAN Day). Awarded a Puffin Grant and a JDTLab at Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY, Oct 2016.
THE PTA MEETING: The Bechdel Group’s inaugural 24-hour Playwriting Challenge, Aug, 2015. ANGEL OF HOPE, Marble Church Summer Arts Festival, June 2017 and The Bechdel Group’s 24-hour Playwriting Challenge, Jan 2016. EMPTY ROOM, Reading: Theatre East Salon Series with talkback, 2013.
ICEBOX PLACENTA (also performed/published as PLAYGROUND PLACENTA) Published in Smith and Krause’s “Best Women’s Monologues of 2019” p20; “Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom” (Amazon); and W42St Magazine, Nov 2015. Performed at MotherLode Festival at the Actors Temple, NYC, Oct 2018, Reproductive Freedom Festival & Livestream, NYC, Mar 2016. Honorable Mention in TentSquare West Side Stories Monologue Challenge, Oct 2015; Optioned by ABC’s “In the Motherhood” 2009.
ONCE REMOVED, A New Musical, Music by Graham Russell, Staged reading, Snapple Theater. Oct 2010.
New York Types: 3 scenes paired with artwork/Exhibit, Produced by Edelman, Art Directors Club, 2011.
Education/Affiliations: Columbia University, BA, Concentration in Writing, PBK, Magna Cum Laude; Editor: The Observer (student journal); Associate Editor: Quarto 29, Columbia Literary Journal; Editor: The Owl (Alumni journal); Founder/Host: Columbia Alumni Association Writers Forum (now Columbia Fiction Foundry). Member of the Dramatists Guild, TRU and CreateTheater.
So, really, I’m figuring stuff out through my work, but I find myself adapting classics because the themes run so deep, are so profound. My works aren’t pure adaptations, because I mess with them a lot. The original text is like a springboard with the set up and the archetypes from which to draw and then jump off and into a new pool to swim around in. There’s the shallow end and the deep end to explore. Sometimes the blinders are on so I’m not really knowing where I’m going with this thing. It’s a bit of a mess, but then the actors enter and the character is standing and speaking right before you. And the director has a vision of where to take this play and suddenly it starts to make sense. The physicality of the play makes it work. It’s real people with real problems that need addressing. At least it’s enough so that people come up at the dump and say how moved they were by that play. And I’m very grateful for that. Very grateful.
www.TheMelissaBell.com
AWARDS
Honored Finalist: ZOE COMES HOME: Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Collaboration Award, with director Laurie L. Guzda, 2025
Nominated “Best Adaptations & Modernizations” by New York Shakespeare: LADY CAPULET, 2020 & 2021
Quarter Finalist: LADY CAPULET: ScreenCraft Playwriting Competition, 2021
Honored Finalist: COURAGE: Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Collaboration Award, with director Tannis Kowalchuk, 2019
Finalist: LADY CAPULET: Pegasus PlayLab, Central Florida University, 2019
Winner: Diana Amsterdam’s Story Skills Contest, 2019
Finalist: LADY CAPULET: Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women, 2017
Semi-Finalist LADY CAPULET: TRU (Theatre Resources Unlimited) Reading Series, 2017
Honorable Mention: PLAYGROUND PLACENTA: TentSquare West Side Stories Monologue Challenge, 2015
PRODUCTIONS:
ZOE COMES HOME Tusten Theatre, Narrowsburg, NY, produced by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Oct 7-8, 2022, May 5-6, 2023, and May 20, 2023, at Bernie Wohl Theatre, NYC, produced by 29PWC. Honored Finalist, WAMC Collaboration Award, 2025.
LADY CAPULET produced by Barefoot Shakespeare Company in Central Park, Farm Arts Collective Arts Center, and Bernie Wohl Theatre
"Tantalizing" "Juicy" --RoundtheWorldstage.com
READ the interview on writing LADY CAPULET here.
Nominated “Best Adaptations & Modernizations” by New York Shakespeare: LADY CAPULET, 2020 and 2021
Watch LADY CAPULET Sizzle Reel
DREAM ON THE FARM, 2019-2024, Decalogue of eco-dramas, set on Willow Wisp farm in Damascus, PA, performed by Farm Arts Collective, featured in the New York Times Arts, Aug 14, 2021, Read Article HERE
DEVIL & THE DEEP, a Musical Reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Theater 43, aka The Mint Theater, June 2015, Produced by Theatre East.
“Conceived by the team of Graham Russell (of Air Supply) and Katie McGhie (music/lyrics), and Melissa Bell (book), there are many moments which are marvelous in their ingenuity.” --Theaterscene.net
COURAGE, a site-specific, immersive theatrical journey based on “Mother Courage and her Children” by Bertolt Brecht. Featuring Debra Winger. World Premiere produced by NACL Theatre on NYC's Governor’s Island and in the Catskills, 2017. Directed by Tannis Kowalchuk; Playwrights Melissa Bell and Mark Dunau. Music by Rima Fand. COURAGE was an Honored Finalist for the Women in the Arts and Media Coalition 2018-2019 Collaboration Award.
“COURAGE makes a lasting impression” —The Sullivan County Democrat.
"Wildly inventive"... "stunning" --The River Reporter.
LOST IN LOVE, a one night only event, raised over $5,000 to benefit the Actors Fund, and featured Constantine Maroulis, Andrea McArdle and Graham Russell, who also wrote the score, produced by Rick Newman and Peter Martins at the Triad Theatre, June 2012.
"Newly created songs mix with Air Supply classics like "All Out of Love" and "Sweet Dreams" to tell the comic tale of a conniving matchmaker, an Italian prince looking to marry for money, and the childhood sweetheart who unexpectedly comes back into his life." –Playbill.com
STAGED READINGS:
FINDING MADAME CURIE, Book by Melissa Bell, Music & Lyrics by David Kurkowski. Performed at MusiCoLab, as part of Philly Theatre Week at The Drake. April 13-14, 2024. Video HERE.
GAME BOY: Produced by Theater Resources Unlimited virtual gala, TRUSpeak, starring Tony Award Winner Cady Huffman; Sullivan County Dramatic Workshop Festival of New Plays, 2022; SUNY Sullivan, V-Day Festival, 2023. Premiered at the Future is Female Festival, 2017.
LOVE, SEX, ANARCHY, Staged Reading with talkback, Shetler Stage 54, NYC; Staged Reading with talkback, Corner Store Arts Center, Washington, DC, 2015; Excerpts performed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, Mar 28, 2015, as part of Support Women Artists Now (SWAN Day). Awarded a Puffin Grant and a JDTLab at Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY, Oct 2016.
THE PTA MEETING: The Bechdel Group’s inaugural 24-hour Playwriting Challenge, Aug, 2015. ANGEL OF HOPE, Marble Church Summer Arts Festival, June 2017 and The Bechdel Group’s 24-hour Playwriting Challenge, Jan 2016. EMPTY ROOM, Reading: Theatre East Salon Series with talkback, 2013.
ICEBOX PLACENTA (also performed/published as PLAYGROUND PLACENTA) Published in Smith and Krause’s “Best Women’s Monologues of 2019” p20; “Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom” (Amazon); and W42St Magazine, Nov 2015. Performed at MotherLode Festival at the Actors Temple, NYC, Oct 2018, Reproductive Freedom Festival & Livestream, NYC, Mar 2016. Honorable Mention in TentSquare West Side Stories Monologue Challenge, Oct 2015; Optioned by ABC’s “In the Motherhood” 2009.
ONCE REMOVED, A New Musical, Music by Graham Russell, Staged reading, Snapple Theater. Oct 2010.
New York Types: 3 scenes paired with artwork/Exhibit, Produced by Edelman, Art Directors Club, 2011.
Education/Affiliations: Columbia University, BA, Concentration in Writing, PBK, Magna Cum Laude; Editor: The Observer (student journal); Associate Editor: Quarto 29, Columbia Literary Journal; Editor: The Owl (Alumni journal); Founder/Host: Columbia Alumni Association Writers Forum (now Columbia Fiction Foundry). Member of the Dramatists Guild, TRU and CreateTheater.