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“I started this group many years ago when we were worried about getting old. I said ‘let’s write about it.’ We were 40.
We used to meet at Shami Chaikin’s apartment, sitting around her table. Now 40 years later, we meet on zoom.”
– Karen Ludwig

Current Members

Karen Ludwig’s numerous Broadway credits include Neil Simon’s BROADWAY BOUND, and THE DEVILS with Anne Bancroft. She appeared in many Off-Broadway performances at The Public Theater and was a member of Andre Gregory’s Manhattan Project. She was in the world premiere of MOONCHILDREN at The Royal Court in London as well as playing Lady McDuff in MACBETH at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.Karen Ludwig produced and directed UTA HAGEN’S ACTING CLASS; a compelling DVD of her incomparable teacher conducting Master Acting Classes UTAHAGENVIDEO.com. Ms. Ludwig has directed plays for the Theater for the New City, NYU School of the Arts, Ensemble Studio Theater, Circle Rep, and The HB Playwrights. On TV she is a LAW and ORDER veteran and many other shows. She conducted an acclaimed interview series ABOUT THE WORK with prominent theater people at the New School for Drama where she also taught for many years.
http://karenludwig.com/#actor

Joan Hall Known for her artwork, Joan Hall’s collages and assemblages havebeen exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including theCentre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Museo Rufino Tamayo inMexico. She is a winner of the Miriam Chaikin Foundation 2018 awardfor her poetry. Joan’s poetry and collage books, Journey to Somewhere,Behind My Mind, and Rhyme Time are available on Amazon. Joan hasbeen a resident of Westbeth since 1971.
https://www.joanhallcollage.com

Dawn D/Arcy is a writer, actor and musician notably, as well as relevantly, having played bass in fellow writer Diane Spodarek’s Detroit punk band The Dangerous Diane Band. She worked at The Actors Studio with director John Stix as well as with actor/director Estelle Parsons on Yeats translation of Oedipus starring Al Pacino and Dianne Wiest. She is the very proud grandma of Etta Rose and is never, ever unaware of how lucky and grateful she is to write, co-create and perform with Karen Ludwig and this brilliant group of artists for the past 20+ years.

Diane Spodarek is a Canadian American writer and a recipient of artist fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Joyce Aaron Oboe winner for Acting in a play Acrobatics co written by Luna Tarlo. Original member of The Open Theater, directed by Joseph Chaikin. Premiered America Hurrah by Jean Claude Van Itallie in New York and at The Royal Court Theater in London. Lived and worked with Sam Shepard on many of his early plays.

Dale Soules is an American actress known for starring in The Messenger, Sesame Street, and for portraying Frieda Berlin in Orange Is the New Black from 2014 to 2019. She appeared in the original production of Hair in the role of Jeannie.

Past Members

Shami Chaikin Obie-award winning actress, Shami Chaikin was a member of the legendary Open Theater under the direction of Joe Chaikin. She appeared in their seminal productions of The Serpent, Terminal, Mutation Show, and more. Her theatrical appearances also include working with with Andre Serban, and Elizabeth Swados and Meredith Monk at the New York Shakespeare Festival, among other venues. In film, she has acted under the direction of Michaelangelo Antonioni, James Ivory and Alan Parker, and has appeared in numerous TV shows, including Law and Order.

Nancy Gabor is a director and acting teacher.She directed Joseph Chaikin in ‘The War In Heaven,’and ‘Struck Dumb,’ staged readings, as he was recovering from Aphasia at the American Place Theater. She was an actor in The Open Theater and participated in the creation of ‘The Serpent.’
Among her many credits:‘The Three Sisters,’ at Princeton where she was an associate acting professor. Nancy taught and directed at the Amsterdam Theater School in the Netherlands for twenty years.
Along with Paul Binnerts, she conducts an acting workshop at Westbeth, ‘You’re Never Too Old To Play.’

Christina Maile
Her work reflecting her West Indian and Dayak heritage, she has received grants from Pollock-Krasner and Joan Mitchell Foundation, as well as two Miriam Chaikin Foundation Writing Awards. Her landscape architectural work was featured in Garden Design Magazine. She was the co-founder playwright of the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective. christinamaile.com