Karen first began working with Mabou Mines in the 1980s, developing the character of Edna (Edgar in the original) in the Company’s gender-reversed adaptation of Lear. Her performance earned her a 1990 OBIE Award and marked the beginning of a deep, enduring relationship with the Company that she describes as “truly transformative” – a time when she became “acutely aware of what it meant to be a full creative collaborator.”Throughout the 90s, Karen was a resident artist at Mabou Mines three times, eventually becoming an Associate Artist. After Lear, Company founder Ruth Maleczech handed Karen the keys to the Mabou Mines studio and office and told her to keep them – original keys she still has to this day.
In 2015, she became a Co-Artistic Director of the Company, where she continues to be committed to work that embraces every possibility.
Karen’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, fellowships, residencies and grants, including: multiple OBIE Awards, the National Endowment for the Arts, NYFA Women’s Fund, Café Royal Cultural Foundation, TCG/Fox Foundation Fellowship, TCG Future Collaborations Travel Grant, Alaska Artist-in-Residence (Rasmuson Foundation), Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, Jim Henson Foundation, Peter S. Reed Foundation, Spencer Cherashore Fund, the Edinburgh Herald Angel Award, Connecticut Critics Circle Award, Craig Noel Award, Drama League Outstanding Performance Citation, and a Dramalogue Award. Nominations: Helen Hayes and Lucille Lortel Awards. She is one of only six recipients of the Audrey Skirball-Kenis T.I.M.E. Grant for performing artists in the United States. Karen is a United States Artists Ziporyn Fellow.