Melissa Bell

Melissa Bell

Creative Associate at Farm Arts Collective
Content Creator, Playwright and Screenwriter

New York City, New York

Member Since:
April 2021
Last online:
> 2 weeks ago
Invites sent:
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About Melissa

Melissa Bell writes stage plays and screenplays that explore women’s agency as they navigate their power and repression. I write plays about obsession, betrayal, revenge, and recovery. PRODUCED PLAYS: Nominated for “Best Adaptations & Modernizations” of 2020 &2021 by New York Shakespeare and Henley Rose Finalist 2017, LADY CAPULET, a prequel to Romeo & Juliet, has been presented on stage and virtually by Barefoot Shakespeare in Central Park, Turn to Flesh, Advice to the Players (NH) Bernie Wohl Center (NYC), Farm Arts Collective (PA), Norwalk Library (CT) and CreateTheater (virtual space) and featured in Smith & Krause’s Best Men’s Monologues of 2020. Writer and Creative Associate with Farm Arts Collective, featured in the NY Times (8/14/21), for DREAM ON THE FARM series of eco plays. COURAGE based on Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children (Honored Finalist, Women in Arts & Media Coalition Collaboration Awards 2019) produced by NACL Theatre, immersive site-specific journey, featuring Debra Winger, performed on Governor’s Island, NYC, and at Apple Pond Farm in the Catskills. Off-Broadway: DEVIL & THE DEEP, music by Graham Russell of Air Supply, produced by Theatre East. LOST IN LOVE, the Air Supply Musical, one-night-only event produced by Triad Theatre benefiting the Actors Fund, featured 2x Tony nominated actor Constantine Maroulis and Tony winning actress Andrea McArdle. GAME BOY, produced by TRU, featuring Tony Awardee Cady Huffman, for TRUSPEAK virtual gala. ICEBOX PLACENTA/PLAYGROUND PLACENTA, featured in Smith & Krause’s Best Women’s Monologues of 2019, Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom. Columbia University BA.

Unique traits: Heightened language, female-driven lead characters, women's agency, devised script and collaborative settings.

Badges

Certifications

Loglines

  • Lady Capulet

    Lady Capulet Budget: $1M - $5M | Drama What caused the feud between the Montagues and Capulets: Rose, a country girl, arrives in Verona, falls in love with one, marries the other, and sets off the infamous feud between the families of Romeo & Juliet.

Credits

  • LADY CAPULET

    LADY CAPULET (2020 - 2021)
    Theater by Barefoot Shakespeare/CreateTheater (Drama) Playwright Virtual Tour of LADY CAPULET: Norwalk Library, WHAM Festival NYC, CreateTheater Monday Night Readings. Advice to the Players, NH. What caused the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets? This prequel to Romeo and Juliet follows the journey of Rose from country girl to matriarch, navigating her repression and power in 16th Century Verona in a time when family, money, power and gender determine everything.

  • LADY CAPULET

    LADY CAPULET (2019)
    Theater by Barefoot Shakespeare Playwright What caused the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets? This prequel to Romeo and Juliet follows the journey of Rose from country girl to matriarch, navigating her repression and power in 16th Century Verona in a time when family, money, power and gender determine everything. Production took place in NYC's Central Park.

Awards

  • Nominated for Best Modernization and Adaptation by New York Shakespeare for LADY CAPULET
    (2021)

  • ScreenCraft Playwriting Competition: Quarter Finalist: LADY CAPULET
    (2021)

  • Nominated for Best Modernization and Adaptation by New York Shakespeare for LADY CAPULET
    (2020)

  • Honored Finalist Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Collaboration Award for COURAGE
    (2019)

  • Winner: Diana Amsterdam’s Story Skills Contest
    (2019)

  • Pegasus PlayLab, Central Florida University: Finalist: LADY CAPULET
    (2019)

  • Finalist Henley Rose Playwrighting Competition for Women for LADY CAPULET
    (2017)

  • TRU (Theatre Resources Unlimited) Reading Series: Semi-Finalist LADY CAPULET
    (2017)

  • TentSquare West Side Stories Monologue Challenge: Honorable Mention: PLAYGROUND PLACENTA
    (2015)

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