An excerpt from The Good Mother by Karen Cellini. Read by Karen Cellini. Sound design by Natalie Johnsonius Neubert

Karen Cellini is a multidisciplinary live performance artist, producer, writer and activist whose work has been seen at Amnesty International Human Rights Arts Festival (Silver Springs, MD), LaMaMa (New York, NY), Dixon Place (New York, NY), Alice’s Fourth Floor (New York, NY), Eugene O’Neill Theatre (Waterford, CT), Pasadena Playhouse (Pasadena, CA), American Dance Institute (Rockville, MD), The New Ohio Theatre (New York, NY), Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield, MA), Four Seasons Hotel (Tokyo, Japan), California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA), Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, NY) and internationally in a starring role in Aaron Spelling’s television drama Dynasty.

She co-produced the iconic Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding and its 25-year Anniversary revival (New York, NY), Cafe A Go-Go (New York, NY), The Life and Times of W.E.B. Dubois, Berkshire Theatre Festival (Stockbridge, MA), and the feature film Seriously Twisted where she also played a lead role. This season she was a producer on the broadway musical, Doctor Zhivago, Broadway Theatre (New York, NY).

As a community activist, Ms. Cellini’s personal commitment to serving at-risk youth is seen in the programs she has developed including The Good Mother Project, (Philadelphia, PA), Mary J. Blige Foundation (Yonkers, NY), Graham School (Mount Vernon, NY), Juvenile Resource Center, (Pittsfield, MA).

She was a resident artist at the Storefront Artists Project, (Pittsfield, MA), collaborated with artist/activist Gabrielle Senza’s Walk Unafraid (Pittsfield, MA) and has been invited to speak at Saint Paul’s School (Newry, Ireland), and the Anti-Violence Against Women Conference, Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival (Silver Springs, MD).

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Writing for Performance at California Institute of the Arts under Carl Hancock Rux. She is Vice President of Corcoran Productions since 1992.

Teachers: Carl Hancock Rux, Erik Ehn, Dan Hurlin, David Neumann, Cassandra Medley, Margaret Whiting, Julie Wilson, Wayne Saunders, Betty Buckley, Michael Howard, and Fran Bennett.

Ms Cellini is currently writing a play on the female body as political landscape with Virginia Grise and Rachel Jendrzejewski.  She is also writing a book The Good Mother: making the invisible, visible, based on the writings of an incarcerated heroin addict. Her play The Good Mother: making the invisible, visible was directed by Dan Hurlin (New York) and a solo performance of the same name was performed at Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival, (Silver Spring, MD)