“Throughout my career in advertising, and now writing and musical theatre, my goal has always been to find the core idea of a story, and develop it in a creative, honest way.”

Barbara Bellman

Barbara is an author, playwright, lyricist, producer, and co-founder of Philadelphia based MusiColab, a Salon series dedicated to helping Philadelphia artists share their works-in-progress. Prior to pursuing her writing for theatre, Barbara had a successful career in advertising and brand strategy.

Barbara earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Arizona State University (1973), a Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writing) from Stony Brook University (2012), and a Master of Fine Arts from Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (2018). She is an alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop (Lyricists) and a current member of the BMI Librettists workshop. Additionally, Barbara is a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute.

Her plays have been featured in literary journals and festivals and have been performed and/or recognized by the O’Neil New Works Festival (semi-finalist), Broadway Bound (Finalist), DC SWAN Festival, the Philadelphia Playwrights Center Festival, the Anne B. Zornio Musical Theatre Festival, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and the Emerging Artists Theatre Festival. Several of her short plays and songs have been performed in cabarets, festivals and workshops in Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York City. She is currently in development for her musical, BORDELLO, about Raquel Liberman, an ordinary woman who accomplished extraordinary things.

Barbara resides in Princeton, NJ and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Cosmopolitan Club.