First Name
James

Last Name
Bell

Title
Professor of Theatre

Email
[email protected]

Office Phone
616-331-3066

Office Location
2761C HCPA

Biography
James Bell is a theatre scholar, playwright, and dramaturg and is Managing Director for Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival. He holds a B.A. in theatre arts from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in theatre history, theory, criticism, and dramaturgy from Florida State University. Before coming to Grand Valley, he taught and was production dramaturg for numerous productions at Jacksonville University, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, and at Florida State University where he was also involved in university theatre administration. He worked with Jason Yancey from the Modern Languages and Literatures Department to write the first English translation/adaptation of Tirso de Molinas Spanish Golden Age classic Antona García. The subsequent production, directed by Karen Libman premiered at the Siglo de Oro Spanish Drama Festival at Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso, Texas and was performed at Grand Valley. His play Autumn in the Valley, which was first developed at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, premiered at Grand Valley in 2006. He was the 1994 Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Student Playwriting Award winner for his play Prisoner, which was performed at the Kennedy Center and has been published by Samuel French. His other plays have been featured at the Mount Sequoyah New Play Retreat as well as the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah.