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As an educator, Dr. Arlene has taught acting and solo writing/ performing at the College of the Canyons and in Chicago, Los Angeles San Francisco College of the Canyons as well as in theaters and colleges nationwide. She currently conducts solo intensives in her studio in addition to teaching at Chicago Dramatists. Her solo students have performed on small stages & large performance venues both here and abroad. They have been honored with Garland Awards, special recognition at Edinburgh Fringe, LA Weekly Nominations, FEM Finalists, Windy City’s Best Solo Works and numerous “Critics picks”. Her writers in the mixed genres class have been printed in magzines, online zines, featured at spoken-word events.
As actor and playwright Arlene views her solo work as an artistic extension of the social justice work she has been committed to for the last twenty years. She has been performing her five critically acclaimed solo shows, about her experiences growing up a hearing daughter in a Deaf family & culture, across the country: including St Louis Center of Contemporary Art, Las Vegas Cultural Center, National Center on Deafness, Minneapolis Arts Center, Palmdale Arts Centre, Ojai Solo Series, HBO Workspace, Victory Gardens, Millennium Park, Pritizker Pavillion and colleges nationwide.
Her solo work has been honored with a 3 Arts nomination, Garland Award and nominations for a LA Weekly Award and LA Theatre Ovation award. As an actor she has appeared in “Love Person” at Victory Gardens and “The Music of the Spheres” at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Favorite roles in LA include “The Crucible”, “Lovers and Other Strangers”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” with Deaf West, and the critically acclaimed “Solos in Harmony” and “In A Different Voice”. Most recently her work was named among the 5 best solo shows in Chicago by Windy City.
Arlene is also a writer/performer with the nationally touring, multicultural show “A Slice of Rice, Frijoles & Greens” which was honored with the White House Award for the Initiative on Race. Television credits include guest starring on: CSI, ER, The Practice, The X Files, Any Day Now, The Division, Diagnosis Murder and the CBS movie, Sweet Nothing in My Ear. As a spoken word artist she has performed at Victory Gardens Biograph, 2nd Story, Funky Tuesday in Chicago and Tasty Words, Word-a-rama, Word Nerd, and Sit and Spin in Los Angeles. She produces a groovy spoken word salon called Speak Easy-Speak Hard.
She has been a contributing writer for “Selling Lemonade for Free” and “The Week Behind”. She is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and Artist in Residence with the 2011 Quad City’s Arts Program. Her newest play “Aiming For Sainthood” will be produced by Victory Gardens Fall of 2010.
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