Shellen Lubin

'''Shellen Lubin''' (born April 4, 1953) is an American director, writer, performer, and teacher of theatre and music. She is best known for her philosophical musings about art and artists, found in her Monday Morning Quotesand articles in ''Backstage''.{{citation needed|date=March 2012}}

==Early life== Shellen Lubin was born and raised in Valley Stream, New York, United States, by parents Samuel and Lora Lubin (née Bondrov), with her older sister Allene.<ref name="Extra">Klein, Alvin, [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/15/nyregion/extra-work-propels-career.html?emc=eta1 Article], ''The New York Times'', Sunday October 15, 1989.</ref> She graduated from Bennington College in 1974 with a triple major in Drama, Music and Dance. During her time at Bennington, she appeared in Miloš Forman's first film in America, 'Taking Off',<ref name="shellenlubin/Bio">{{cite web |title=Bio |url=https://www.shellenlubin.com/web/default.asp?m=m_bio&e=e_Bio |website=Shellen Lubin |access-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512052748/https://www.shellenlubin.com/web/default.asp?m=m_bio&e=e_Bio |archive-date=12 May 2021}}</ref> which featured two songs she wrote ("It's Sunday", which she performed, and "Feeling Sort Of Nice", performed by Karen Klugman).<ref name="Extra" /> After graduating, she moved to New York City to continue pursuing her career in music and theatre.

==Songwriting and theatre== Her first major theater project after college was the musical Molly's Daughters, which she wrote for the American Jewish Theater in 1978.<ref name="Molly">New York's Other Theatre: A Guide to Off Off Broadway by Mindy N Levine (Paperback, 1981)</ref> It was produced twice, first at the Henry St. Settlement featuring Lisa Loomer and Jane Ives, then at the 92nd Street Y featuring Rosalind Harris and directed by Pamela Berlin. Afterwards, she spent a long time writing various plays and songs, most notably Imperfect Flowers for Gretchen Cryer and James “Jimmy” Wlcek,<ref name="Omaha">Omaha World Herald, Saturday, July 18, 1998 by Bob Fischbach</ref> and a number of songs with musician and composer Bill Dixon.<ref name="Dixon">[https://books.google.com/books?id=LqTZ6SrMkF0C&dq=shellen+lubin&pg=PA232 Dixonia: A Bio-Discography of Bill Dixon], by Ben Young</ref> In 1983, WBAI-FM presented a one-hour special of her songs entitled Shellen Lubin, Songwriter/Singer. She also wrote and performed a one-woman musical about the experience of having her first child (entitled 'Mother/Child') at numerous cabaret spaces and theatres from 1986–88, including the Susan Bloch Theater and Interart Theatre.

In 1989, she began her professional theater directing career at the Producer's Club Theatre with LIARS, written by Elliot Meyers and starring James “Jimmy” Wlcek, Peter Sprague, Annie Hughes, and Joyce West.<ref name="Extra" /> She followed LIARS with Larry Myers’ Gene Tierney Moved Next Door in 1994 at Theater for the New City, with Cynthia Enfield, Rik Walter and Tom Fenaughty.<ref name="Best Plays">[https://books.google.com/books?id=pyOS10wBhy4C&dq=shellen+lubin&pg=PA509 The Best Plays of 1993-1994], by Otis L. Guernsey, Jeffrey Sweet</ref>

==Other works==

===Backstage articles=== Based on her years of work in theater and her growing Monday Morning Quotes mailing list, the theater publication, ''Backstage'', commissioned Shellen Lubin to write seven cover pieces about the experience of living as an artist and working in the business of the Arts. She is the only person ever to have written for ''Back Stage'' from a philosophical perspective.<ref name="Backstage">[http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4596998-1.html Allbusiness.com] a reprinting of Back Stage article "Whose Work Is It Anyway?" by Shellen Lubin.{{dead link|date=March 2012}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubin, Shellen}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:People from Valley Stream, New York Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:American women dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American women writers Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century American women writers Category:Writers from New York (state) Category:Bennington College alumni