Arlene Malinowski is a Chicago-based playwright, actor and teacher. She grew up in New Jersey and has spent many years in Los Angeles. She has written and performed several solo plays, which draw on her unique experience growing up in a family where both parents were deaf. Her solo work has earned her an LA Garland award and several other nominations and picks. As an actor, she has appeared in numerous theatre productions around the country. She also teaches solo writing and performing. I caught up with her at the Cafe Selmarie in Chicago's Lincoln Square, where she gave me some insights into writing and performing in solo plays, as well as what it was like to grow up in a deaf family.

http://www.litkicks.com/ArleneMalinowski/

For most people, starting one's career as a Deaf education teacher, obtaining a masters degree in counseling followed by a doctorate in higher and adult education before ultimately settling into writing and acting would seem like an unusual path. For Arlene Malinowski, writer and performer of the autobiographical solo show Aiming for Sainthood, it was a logical progression. "Everything I've done career-wise has fed into the next thing," she said in a recent telephone interview. First and foremost, Malinowski sees herself as an educator. "Writing and sharing my story and my family's story are just educating in a different way."

http://chicagotheaterblog.com/2010/03/27/arlene-malinowsky-aiming-for-sainthood/