Hilary Bell

Wolf Lullaby

Hilary Bell writes for stage, radio, screen and music theatre. Plays include Wolf Lullaby (Atlantic, Steppenwolf, Griffin Theatre), Fortune, The Falls (Griffin), The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Ruysch (Vitalstatistix; The University of the South in Tennessee), Shot While Dancing (shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award), Memmie Le Blanc (Vitalstatistix, Deckchair), Open-Cut (WAAPA), The Mysteries: Genesis (Sydney Theatre Company) with Lally Katz, Angela’s Kitchen (Griffin) with Paul Capsis and Julian Meyrick, The White Divers of Broome (Black Swan / Perth International Arts Festival), The Splinter for STC,  Victim Sidekick Boyfriend Me for the National Theatre’s Connections Programme, and Mrs President, composed by Victoria Bond and produced by Anchorage Opera. As well as opera, she has written libretti for musicals (The Wedding Song, comp. Douglas Stephen Rae, dir. Jim Sharman), song cycles (Talk Show, comp. Elena Katz-Chernin, for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir), and for Phillip Johnston’s score to Murnau’s silent film Faust, premiered at the New York Film Festival and performed internationally.

Hilary has been resident at the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights' Conference in the US, the Russian Playwrights' Conference, and the Australian National Playwrights' Conference. She is a member of playwrights' company 7-ON, and a recipient of the Philip Parsons Young Playwrights’ Award, Jill Blewitt Playwrights’ Award, Bug’n’Bub Award, Aurealis Award for Fiction, the Eric Kocher Playwrights’ Award, a Helpmann, an Inscription Award and an AWGIE for Music Theatre. She is a graduate of the Juilliard Playwrights’ Studio, NIDA, and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. She was the 2003-04 Tennessee Williams Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of the South in Tennessee. She is a director on the Griffin Board, part of State of Play's artistic directorate, and on the artistic advisory panel for the Production Company, New York. Hilary also works as a mentor and dramaturg, and as a playwriting teacher.

Coming up next: Do Good And You Will Be Happy, a musical with composer Phillip Johnston, to be workshopped by Merrigong in September. And also in September, the publication by NewSouth of an art/children's/gift book, Alphabetical Sydney, with illustrator Antonia Pesenti.

Hilary is represented by RGM Associates

PO Box 128, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Tel. 612 9281 3911

Hilary's plays can be purchased via Currency Press (Fortune, Wolf Lullaby);The Australian Script Centre (The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Ruysch, Conversations With Jesus, Memmie Le Blanc, The Falls, The Seven Needs); and by direct email for everything else: Email Hilary Bell.

AWARDS; FELLOWSHIPS

Inscription Award for 'Memmie Le Blanc' 2007

Tennessee Williams Fellowship, University of the South, Tennessee, USA 2003-2004

Music Theatre AWGIE (Australian Writers Guild) ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Ruysch’ 2003

Bug’n’Bub Award for ‘The Falls’, UA 2001

ASK Theatre Projects Writers Retreat, USA 2000

Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist, 1999

Hegebrook Writers’ Colony, USA1998

Juilliard Playwright Fellow, USA 1997 and 1998

LeCompte du Nouy Award, USA 997 and 1998

Eric Kocher Award, USA 1997

Jill Blewett Playwrights' Award, 1996

Aurealis Award for Young Adult Fiction, 1996

Philip Parsons Memorial Young Playwrights’ Award, 1994

Hilary's work has been developed through the Australian National Playwrights' Conference, 1994 & 2006; the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights' Conference, USA, 1997 & 1999; and the Russian Playwrights' Conference, 1997.