Michele Forsten

Michele Forsten is a playwright, essayist, college administrator and co-founder of the New York City Lesbian Cancer Support Consortium.

Career

Playwright

Forsten short plays “Winning?” have been performed in New York City, Provincetown, Boston and San Francisco. “Winning?” was published in Smith & Kraus’ Best Stage Scenes of 2000 and in the Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly (Volume I, Number 2).

A full-length play, “Be My Baby!” was a semi-finalist in Playwrights’ Circle’s National New Play Festival in Palm Springs (CA), where it received a staged reading. The play was also a finalist in the Pittsburgh New Play Festival and a semi-finalist in the Moondance International Festival Stage Play Competition^[1] and in the London Borough of Newham’s Lesbian & Gay Stage Play Competition. A monologue from “Be My Baby!” was published in Smith & Kraus’ Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2000.

Essayist

Forsten’s personal essays and other articles have been published in Mamm magazine, The Advocate,^[2] New York Daily News,^[3] The New York Times and other newspapers nationwide, including the Philadelphia Gay News, San Francisco Bay Times, Outword Magazine, Windy City Times [1], Metro Weekly (Washington, DC) [2] and Watermark (Orlando). Her essay about her cancer support group was broadcast on "All Things Considered" on WNYC-FM [3] in New York City. One of her personal essays was published in a book, A Cup of Comfort for Couples (2010) [4], the only essay of the 48 in the book written by and about a same sex couple.

Public relations

A City College of New York (CCNY) graduate, she worked for several years in magazine editorial positions before starting her career as a public relations professional at a public relations agency. She decided that college communications was the right milieu for her and went on to hold positions at Lehman College and Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus. She is now director of communications for New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of The City University of New York.

Advocate for lesbians with cancer

Shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, she attended a mainstream support group in which she was the only lesbian.^{[citation needed]} She didn't feel she could be herself in that group and began searching for a support group in New York City for women who partner with women. After discovering that the city didn't have any such groups, she published an article in 2004 on this situation in Gay City News^[4] and sent it to social workers and other health professionals around the city. She then co-founded the New York City Lesbian Cancer Support Consortium, which brought together health professionals from various agencies around the city to do something about this situation. The group met regularly for a couple of years and eventually became a listserv connecting lesbian cancer survivors, health professionals and advocates.

In May 2005, the New York City LGBT Center implemented its first C Word event for women who partner with women, which drew more than 100 attendees. Forsten was one of the main speakers at that first of what has become an annual event. That fall, the Center started support groups for survivors and for their caregivers, which continue to this day. Forsten co-facilitated the survivors group for several years.

References

1. ^ "2001 Awards: Moondance 2001 Stageplay Semi-Finalists". filmfestivals.com. http://www.filmfestivals.com/moondance/2001/jury.html. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
2. ^ "Taking Inventory". The Advocate. February-March 2008. http://www.advocate.com/article.aspx?id=22194. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
3. ^ "'S' for 'same-sex' marriage or 'single' means same thing". New York Daily News. 1 June 2009. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/06/02/2009-06-02_s_for_samesex_marriage_or_single_means_same_thing.html. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
4. ^ "And Then There Were None". GayCityNews. 27 June 2004. http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2004/06/27/gay_city_news_archives/past%20issues/17003323.txt. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 

• "Improv at the Altar," A Cup of Comfort for Couples, Adams Media, 2010
• Press Pass Q, September 2004
• "Treasuring My New Chest," Mamm magazine, November/December 2003
• "Fear of Disclosure," Mamm magazine, June 2002
• "Two Sisters, Two Parades," The City Section, The New York Times, May 21, 2000, page 17.

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Name	Forsten, Michele
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