KAREN CARPENTER
DIRECTOR - PRODUCER - SCRIPT CONSULTANT
"Karen Carpenter has directed with flawless timing."
~The New York Times
Period Piece, a series of monologues whose mission is to de-stigmatize menstruation; written by Nayna Argrawal, Christina Anderson, Ngozi Anyanwu, Debra Barsha, Bekah Brunstetter, Diana Burbano, Susan Cinoman, Lis D'Amour, Cheryl Davis, Nicole Lynn Evans, Quinn Fontaine, Zoila Galeano, Emma Goldman-Sherman, Kirsten Greenidge, auren Gunderson, Joy Harjo, Tina Howe, Jaime Jarrett, Lally Katz, Wendy MacLeod, Cassandra Medledy, Eliana Pipes, Carole Real, Theresa Rebeck, Jacquelyn Reingold, Maria Elena Rodriguez, Elaine Romero, Sarah Ruhl, Sharon Soboil, Destry Spielberg, Delanna Studi, Caridad Svitch, Ruth Tang, Else Went, Kit Yan, and Rhiana Yazzie. Off-Broadway, Spring 2022
Lioness in Winter, based on the book by Ann Burack-Weiss; commissioned for a stage adaptation.
Brave New World, the musical:
Book by Ben Aldron, Lyrics by Bill Russell, Composers John McDaniels & Jonnie Rockwell. Touring Summer 2022
Betwixt & Between, the musical:
Book by Kate Hannenerg, Lyrics by Kate Hannenberg, Composer Ned Ginsburg. Airs on WBAI Radio July 2021
Boynton Beach Club, a new muscial, based on the film. Book by Susan Siedelman, Lyrics by Michael Colby and Cornelia Ravenal, Composer Ned Ginsburg.
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Karen Carpenter is a stage director and producer of plays, musicals, opera, and events, ranging from the most intimate to the spectacular. She is an expert script consultant, and especially sought out by writers to help hone their new work to its best effect.
Karen believes in the power of building productions through close collaboration with the writer(s), composer, designers, and actors. She leads her companies and the room with passion, encouragement, high standards, and a great sense of humor.
New Works for Theater
Karen is known for directing premieres of new plays and musicals, and her dramaturgical contributions to them. She has a particular knack for comedy, though her favorite form is dramedy, as she finds it the most human. Her smash hit, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, by Nora Ephron & Delia Ephron, received the Drama Desk Award for Best Unique Theatrical Experience, was voted Broadway World Audience Favorite and played a record 3 years in NYC. It has since been produced all over the world.
Performance Art
Deemed a provocateur and impresario in the press for conceiving and directing Indianapolis Symphony's Your Concert Your Way series, Karen staged and scripted their "Frankenstein!!!" & "Riot of Spring" concerts, including the riot that happened the night Stravinsky's Rite of Spring premiered in Paris; starring Roger Rees, artists Andre Miripolsky & Michael Arthur, and featuring Kaleidescope Dance Company. She received critical acclaim for these ground-breaking works; tickets were in such demand for her concerts, that they were SRO for the first time ever in this symphony's history.
Large-Scale Events
Through her company, The Figment Factory LLC, Karen directs large-scale events for non-profits and corporate entities, from branding to conception to fully realized productions. She was show director for Playhouse Square's reveal of the largest outdoor chandelier in the world, creative director for the U.N./W.H.O.'s Deliver Now for Women and Children global campaign launch, Take Heart, the national campaign for the Million Women Heart Project, with Urban Zen; and production coordinator for President Clinton's inaugural and subsequent Clinton Global Initiatives.