Melissa Bell
Photo by Monika Maresca
My plays explore women's agency and actions, creating new works for the stage, often using humanistic themes and heightened language, to present stories and theatrical experiences.
My work centers around a woman with an ambiguous moral center whose desires and needs drive her to participate in actions that are morally questionable. Her actions have consequences and her coming to terms with them completes the journey.
Truth matters deeply, so I write about people who lie.
I draw upon classic novels by Wharton, Bronte, James, Hardy and Shakespeare to define the concept of a “tragic hero” and use them as tools to create a woman as the central tragic character.
I write plays that chronical obsession, betrayal, revenge, and recovery.
www.TheMelissaBell.com
PRODUCTIONS:
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, series 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. Produced at Theater 43, aka The Mint Theater, June 2015; 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. (Honored Finalist, Women in the Arts and Media Coalition 2018-2019 Collaboration Awards).
“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:
GAME BOY: Premiered at the Future is Female Festival, 2017, 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 1 Billion Rising Festival, 2023.
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 Off Broadway Alliance.
My work centers around a woman with an ambiguous moral center whose desires and needs drive her to participate in actions that are morally questionable. Her actions have consequences and her coming to terms with them completes the journey.
Truth matters deeply, so I write about people who lie.
I draw upon classic novels by Wharton, Bronte, James, Hardy and Shakespeare to define the concept of a “tragic hero” and use them as tools to create a woman as the central tragic character.
I write plays that chronical obsession, betrayal, revenge, and recovery.
www.TheMelissaBell.com
PRODUCTIONS:
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, series 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. Produced at Theater 43, aka The Mint Theater, June 2015; 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. (Honored Finalist, Women in the Arts and Media Coalition 2018-2019 Collaboration Awards).
“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:
GAME BOY: Premiered at the Future is Female Festival, 2017, 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 1 Billion Rising Festival, 2023.
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 Off Broadway Alliance.