Welcome...
...to Bella's website, and thank you so much for visiting!
Bella is an actor, writer, and singer-songwriter. She has been working for over twenty-five years in theatre, film, television and radio, and has directed both plays and opera. She is Professor of Acting and Directing in the department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production at the University of California, Riverside. She is also an actor-trainer and the author of six books on acting. She has Permanent Resident status in the USA, AEA and is represented by StevensonWithers Associates.
US Acting appearances include Trinculo in The Tempest (currently playing in Allyn Burrow's production at Shakespeare & Company), The Queen and Arviragus in Cymbeline, Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice (all with Shakespeare & Company) and Margaret in Richard III (the Colorado Shakespeare Festival), all directed by Tina Packer. Jenny in the award-winning film-script Mente Revolver (international release, 2018) by Alejandro Ramirez. Her solo play Nell Gwynne: A Dramatick Essaye on Acting and Prostitution directed by Miles Anderson, (www.milesanderson.us) at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2015 received critical acclaim, an ENCORE! PRODUCERS' AWARD and nominations including Best Female Performer.
UK Acting appearances include David Hare's The Permanent Way directed by Max Stafford-Clark (Out of Joint/Royal National Theatre); She Stoops to Conquer and A Laughing Matter (also directed by Max Stafford-Clark for Out of Joint/Royal National Theatre); many theatre roles (among her favorites being The Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Celia in As You Like It and Arkadina in The Seagull), various roles in new works, and for BBC TV and Radio.
Workshops: Bella is known on the international circuit of her work on Konstantin Stanislavsky. She has conducted guest workshops around the world, including Japan, Australia, France, Poland, North America, Colombia, and across the UK and US in theatres, drama schools and universities.
Publications include the best-selling The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit (Nick Hern Books) and the Routledge 'classic' Acting the Basics (see Publications page), and her most recent book Facing the Fear: An Actor's Guide to Overcoming Stage Fright (Nick Hern Books).
Education: Dedicated to linking performance with education, she has held posts at the British Universities of Birmingham (where she received her PhD in 1997) and Exeter. She has taught extensively at Central School of Speech and Drama, the London Actors Centre, Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Metropolitan University, and many others. She is Professor of Acting and Directing at the University of California, Riverside, in the Theatre, Film and Digital Production Department, and Visiting Professor at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.
Directing: Bella has also directed in a number of drama schools and universities, as well as co-directing Bluebeard's Castle at the Mondavi Centre for the Performing Arts. In 2012, she set up 'Shakespeare-On-a-Shoestring' (SOS) at University of California, Davis, leading to her productions of Richard III and The Merchant of Venice. She has directed Mrs Packard and Stop Kiss at the University of California, Riverside, and is directing Antigone there in Winter 2018.
Thank you for visiting, and please take your time to enjoy this website!
Contact: bella.merlin@hotmail.co.uk
Bella is an actor, writer, and singer-songwriter. She has been working for over twenty-five years in theatre, film, television and radio, and has directed both plays and opera. She is Professor of Acting and Directing in the department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production at the University of California, Riverside. She is also an actor-trainer and the author of six books on acting. She has Permanent Resident status in the USA, AEA and is represented by StevensonWithers Associates.
US Acting appearances include Trinculo in The Tempest (currently playing in Allyn Burrow's production at Shakespeare & Company), The Queen and Arviragus in Cymbeline, Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice (all with Shakespeare & Company) and Margaret in Richard III (the Colorado Shakespeare Festival), all directed by Tina Packer. Jenny in the award-winning film-script Mente Revolver (international release, 2018) by Alejandro Ramirez. Her solo play Nell Gwynne: A Dramatick Essaye on Acting and Prostitution directed by Miles Anderson, (www.milesanderson.us) at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2015 received critical acclaim, an ENCORE! PRODUCERS' AWARD and nominations including Best Female Performer.
UK Acting appearances include David Hare's The Permanent Way directed by Max Stafford-Clark (Out of Joint/Royal National Theatre); She Stoops to Conquer and A Laughing Matter (also directed by Max Stafford-Clark for Out of Joint/Royal National Theatre); many theatre roles (among her favorites being The Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Celia in As You Like It and Arkadina in The Seagull), various roles in new works, and for BBC TV and Radio.
Workshops: Bella is known on the international circuit of her work on Konstantin Stanislavsky. She has conducted guest workshops around the world, including Japan, Australia, France, Poland, North America, Colombia, and across the UK and US in theatres, drama schools and universities.
Publications include the best-selling The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit (Nick Hern Books) and the Routledge 'classic' Acting the Basics (see Publications page), and her most recent book Facing the Fear: An Actor's Guide to Overcoming Stage Fright (Nick Hern Books).
Education: Dedicated to linking performance with education, she has held posts at the British Universities of Birmingham (where she received her PhD in 1997) and Exeter. She has taught extensively at Central School of Speech and Drama, the London Actors Centre, Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Metropolitan University, and many others. She is Professor of Acting and Directing at the University of California, Riverside, in the Theatre, Film and Digital Production Department, and Visiting Professor at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.
Directing: Bella has also directed in a number of drama schools and universities, as well as co-directing Bluebeard's Castle at the Mondavi Centre for the Performing Arts. In 2012, she set up 'Shakespeare-On-a-Shoestring' (SOS) at University of California, Davis, leading to her productions of Richard III and The Merchant of Venice. She has directed Mrs Packard and Stop Kiss at the University of California, Riverside, and is directing Antigone there in Winter 2018.
Thank you for visiting, and please take your time to enjoy this website!
Contact: bella.merlin@hotmail.co.uk
