Biography

Nebraska born songwriter and playwright, Karen Sokolof Javitch has 5 musicals under her belt. Three of them are licensed with Heuer: Love! At the Café!, Princess Diana the Musical and Rachel and Ruthie. Love! is her first musical and she wrote the 17 songs in the show. Jim Conant wrote the book and the 1950’s style musical is the perfect junior and high school musical. “A must see family show!” said the Omaha World-Herald.
Karen has always admired Princess Diana and when the Princess died, she wrote many songs for the princess, not knowing she would one day create a musical about her. Princess Diana has played twice in her hometown of Omaha. “I was thrilled with the positive response of the audiences and the cast. It is a beautiful musical about her, and a perfect one for a high school or college to produce.” There are more than 30 songs featured on the Princess Diana CD.
Rachel and Ruthie is a short musical – twenty minutes – and has only one song. Rachel and Ruthie is very personal to me.” Rachel is her youngest daughter, and Ruthie is Karen’s mom, who Rachel never got to meet because she died at age 56 of cancer. “This was my way of bringing both of them together,” says Karen.
Karen has written and produced 10 CD’s of her music – 4 of them are her musicals – the other 6 are different genres. Her latest CD – Star Tracks – The Tribute Album pays tribute to 23 celebrities in memory of Patrick Swayze. Funds from the CD go to Pancreatic Cancer Research in his honor.
His Name Was Freedom was written in memory of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and the heroes who served.
She has songs in two movies – ‘California Dreamin’ and ‘Omaha, the Movie’. She has presented both President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton with songs she wrote for them, as well as Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elie Wiesel.
At times, she uses her musicals and CD’s to raise money for Nebraska charities. She has raised more than $150,000 for AIDS, the Red Cross, Alzheimers and Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children. Her music is arranged by Chuck Penington, musical conductor of the Grammy-winning group, Mannheim Steamroller.
Karen credits her parents as her inspirations. “My Mom taught blind children and bravely battled cancer for half of her life. My Dad, Phil Sokolof, was a great businessman who persevered with his passion of making this world a healthier place.”
Besides her parents as inspirations, she and Gary have three adult children: Jenny, Mark and Rachel. “They’re without a doubt the best part of my life. And they have always been helpful with my songs – going around the house singing them all the time!”
PS. Check out Karen’s work on youtube – just type in Karen Javitch.
Karen’s website is JMRProductions.com