James J Mellon

James J. Mellon is proud to be the Artistic Director of The NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE), the resident theatre company of The NoHo Arts Center, in Los Angeles, California. His extensive background in the entertainment industry covers theatre, television, film, recording and dance.

As an actor he made his Broadway debut as Riff in WEST SIDE STORY, directed by Jerome Robbins, and performed in many plays and musicals including, A CHORUS LINE (Broadway), 42ND STREET (National Tour), THE FIFTH OF JULY (Regional) and Jesus in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Chicago). He has worked at such theatres as The Goodspeed Opera House, The New York Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, The Folger Theatre in Washington D.C., as well as The Williamstown Theatre Festival.

For NoHo ACE, Mr. Mellon directed JERUSELEM, A BOY CALLED LIZARD (Ovation nomination - Original Musical), FEED (LA Weekly nomination – Direction), THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (Ovation nomination, LA Weekly nomination – Original Musical), BUSH IS BAD (LA Weekly Award – Acting Ensemble, nomination – Best Musical) and PEST CONTROL (LA Weekly Nomination – Best Musical), THE RED ROOM and THE LIGHT BULB (Both World Premiere Plays). He is also the director/writer/co-composer of ACE’s seasonal yuletide hit, YO HO HO, A PIRATE’S CHRISTMAS.

As a writer, Mr. Mellon adapted Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” into the World Premiere Musical, DORIAN, which premiered at The Denver Center’s Buell Theatre in the fall of 2004. It subsequently opened The NoHo Arts Center’s first season in 2005 and went on to receive Ovation, LA Weekly, Backstage and Drama Critics nominations. It is currently being translated into Dutch and will receive it’s premiere in Amsterdam in the Spring of 2016. James adapted THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR from the novel of the same name as well as A BOY CALLED LIZARD from the Dennis Covington novel, “Lizard.” His original musical, AN UNFINISHED SONG, was nominated for numerous awards and has been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Maine and Sydney, Australia. His one man show, SISSYBOY, will premiere in the fall of 2014.

Two of Mr. Mellon’s original musicals have recently been published by Samuel French: YO HO HO, A PIRATE’S CHRISTMAS and A BOY CALLED LIZARD. The later received the 2012 AATE Award (American Association for Theatre and Education) for best adaptation of a musical.