Shellen Lubin Biography

Shellen Lubin is a director and teacher, songwriter/singer, advocate for women in the arts, actor/singer, and writer of many things, including plays, musicals, and Monday Morning Quotes, a think piece she distributes and posts online first thing each week.

ADVOCACY: Shellen Lubin is the Co-President of the WAM Coalition (Women in Arts and Media Coalition) which she has been an integral part of since its inception. The organizatio nworks with advocacy, networking, and events to support women and the image of women in the arts and media. She is also the Co-Secretary of the League of Professional Theatre Women, a membership organization for women in theatre. She is currently in the studio with her longtime friend and collaborator, Elsa Rael, recording their newest song, “50/50 in 2020”—a rock anthem to support the new 50/50 in 2020 movement, which is a joint collaboration of LPTW, the Women’s Project, and New Perspectives Theatre. Shellen performed the song with Ilene Kristen at the Coalition’s VintAge event at Symphony Space in 2010.

PLAYWRIGHT and SONGWRITER: Shellen and two of her songs were featured in Milos Forman’s first American film, TAKING OFF, and were on the soundtrack of the film. Her play, IMPERFECT FLOWERS, was written for and performed by Gretchen Cryer and James (Jimmy) Wlcek. It played to rave reviews in Omaha, Nebraska, as part of SNAP!Fest (“a night when acting and lights and music and a glorious script all come together into something bordering on magic,” Omaha World-Herald.) The first act of the play, a one-act entitled ANTHESIS, also received raves in L.A. when it played at the West Coast Ensemble. When she first arrived in New York City, she was commissioned by the American Jewish Theatre to createtwo pieces: one a collection o fpoetry, prose, and song entitled JEWISH DAUGHTERS; and MOLLY’S DAUGHTERS, a musical about three generations of Jewish women. She then wrote the music for BAD NEWS (book and lyrics by Harmon Dresner), which premiered at the New Jersey Public Theatre’s Celebration Playhouse and is published by Dramatic Publishing. Her one acts have been performed at Manhattan Class Company, Henry Street Settlement, Six Figures Theatre Company, Harold Clurman Theater, and Stepforward Productions. Other plays and musicals have been performed in staged readings at the Public Theatre, Henry Street Settlement, Manhattan Class Company, and the Dramatists Guild. Her songs have also been performed by numerous singers in shows, cabaret acts, and auditions. She is currently collaborating with Anthony J. Fusco on a new musical under the auspices of The Sprecher Organization. She just completed THE QUALITY OF RESPECT, her own take on the story of William Shakespeare’s THEMERCHANT OF VENICE.

DIRECTOR: Shellen has directed numerous plays, musicals, and cabaretacts in productions, workshops, and readings, most recently BELLE BARTH: IF I EMBARRASS YOU, TELL YOUR FRIENDS(by Koch, Levinson, and Kalt) at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank starring Lainie Kazan, Susan Merson’s I BELIEVE IN MARRIAGE starring David Rasche at New World Stages, ON THE LINE at 78th STREET THEATRE LAB (including the writings of Leah Kornfeld Friedman, Maxine Kern, Elsa Okon Rael, Marilyn Rockafellow, and Dana Zeller-Alexis); and staged readings of Susan Merson's BOUNTY OF LACE for Judith Shakespeare Company's Resurgence Festival, Jule Selbo’s LAKE GIRLS for EST, and Stephanie Satie's LEON'S DICTIONARY at 78th STREET THEATRE LAB.

TEACHING ARTIST and VOCAL AND ACTING COACH: As a teaching artist, Ms.Lubin has not only developed and taught theatre, music, and writing programs for schools and libraries, but has worked as a consultant and professional developer for a number of institutions and organizations, including Teachers College, Marymount Manhattan College, Lincoln Center Institute, Nashville Institute for the Arts, New York Public Library, Arts Horizons, and Artscape. As a vocal and acting coach, she teaches professionals for stage, screen, and recordings, and has taught and performed at a number of colleges and professional and private schools, most notably Marymount Manhattan College, Mannes School of Music, and Bennington College, her alma mater, where she was a guest artist in the Black Music Division for Bill Dixon.

PERFORMER: Shellen has herself performed onstage—as both an actor and a songwriter/singer—for years, both in and out of New York City. She and her songs have been featured on radio (Woody’s Children on WQXR-FM, a one-hour special on WBAI-FM, and various shows on WABC, WOR, and WEVD-FM), cable television, and in Milos Forman’s first American film, TAKING OFF. MOTHER/CHILD, her one-woman musical, was called by WBAI-FM: “a dynamite show about the joys, agonies, conflicts, and concerns of combining new parenthood, person-hood, and artist-hood.” Her one-woman musical CLEANING UP was equally well-received. For years she performed on the cabaret circuit, appearing in most cabaret rooms including Reno Sweeney, Grand Finale, and Don’t Tell Mama. Other performing credits include stage (originating roles in Adam Kraar’s OFFICE MISHEGOSS directed by Maura Tighe, and at EST directed by Peter Zapp, and Michael Shurtleff’s WOMAN TO WOMAN at The Troupe), screen (including principal roles in the films GREEN CARD and OPERATION LYSISTRATA), and television (including an appearance on the Joe Franklin Show).

WRITER: Her philosophical musings on living as an artist and living with artistry were commissioned by Sherry Eaker and have been read by thousands in six cover pieces for Backstage, the Performing Arts Weekly. She is the only person to have ever written on artistry from a philosophical perspective for Backstage, and her writing had a profound effect on readers across the country. She also writes a weekly reflective piece called the “Monday Morning Quote” which goes out on the internet first thing each week to an ever-increasing list of subscribers and is read by many others at www.mondaymorningquote.com, www.mondaymorningquotes.com, and on facebook.

Shellen is a member of the Dramatists Guild, BMI, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the New York Singing Teachers Association. As well as her B.A. from Bennington College in Drama, Music, and Dance, Shellen also holds an MILS degree from Syracuse University with honors.