Most of her Chicago work has been done with Writers Theatre: Assistant Directing A Moon for the Misbegotten and Arcadia and acting in Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody, (Joseph Jefferson nomination Best Ensemble), Doubt: A Parable, Do the Hustle, Yellow Moon, Heartbreak House, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Beats, Blake, Butley, Candida, The Doctor's Dilemma, Fallen Angels, In the Heart of Winter '93 - '96, Love & Lunacy, Othello (After Dark Award - Outstanding Performance), A Phoenix too Frequent, A Play on Words, Rocket to the Moon, Seagull, Spite for Spite.
Chicago credits include Harvey, M. Butterfly (Court Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Domesticated (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Rapture, Blister Burn, A Christmas Carol, Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Goodman Theatre), To Master the Art (TimeLine Theatre Company and Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, (Joseph Jefferson Award nomination - Actress in a Principal Role) and many others. Regional credits include nine seasons with Peninsula Players Theatre, and a summer with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. TV credits include Patriot (Amazon), Chicago P.D., Crisis (NBC), and Runner (ABC). Film credits include Bad Johnson and American Fable. Karen also teaches a Shakespeare course, and lives with her husband Matthew and son Benjamin in Evanston.