"Rick Karlin is a playwright (“Witches Among Us,” “Spin Cycle”, “As Time Goes By” and “Seuss on the Loose”), novelist (Show Biz Kids, Tales of the Second City, Death on the Rocks), free-lance journalist (Chicago Free Press, Bay Area Reporter, Windy City Times, Chicago Tribune’s Metromix and OutTraveler.com) and was the Entertainment Editor for Gay Chicago Magazine for 10 years.
A community activist, he was inducted into the City of Chicago’s LGBT Hall of Fame in 1997. He founded the popular charity fundraisers, “Night of 100 Drag Queens” and Gay Chicago Magazine’s “After Dark Awards.” In his stage personae, Charity Case and Helen Highwater, he is renowned for his quick wit and snappy repartee as a performer and emcee for charity events and shows,
He was also an award-winning teacher. Rick is the proud father of his adult son, Adam and lives in Fort Lauderdale with his husband, the award-winning poet and writer, Gregg Shapiro, and their dog Coco."