As a writer, I feel it is a privilege to tell the stories of people's lives and show their deepest struggles as well as their greatest triumphs. I strive to engage the audience with my writing, provoke thought about the world around us, and create a new narrative through characters with agency who do not fall into the standard conventions of the past.

                                                  ~ Karen Cecilia

Karen Cecilia’s work as a playwright has been seen in the UK and the US. In NYC at 3LD, La Mama, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, Theater For The New City, Theatre Odyssey, Sarasota FL, The Coalescence Theatre, Illinois and The Firehouse Theatre, Richmond, VA and Jermyn Street Theater, London England. She is member of the Playwright/Directors Workshop at The Actors Studio, NYC. Her play Ivy Walls was one of four finalists and produced at the Second Annual Theatre Odyssey One Act Play Festival and has received Top Finalist Honors for the 2019 Ivoryton Women Playwright’s Initiative.

Perfectly Normal was chosen for the #Shepersisted festival in Bloomington, Illinois and received Semi-Finalist award from The Orlando Shakespeare Theater in 2019. She was the winner of the Walter Prichard Eaton Prize for Playwriting Excellence from Hunter College in 2014. She was a co-screenwriter on Daughters of Solanas produced by The Women’s Weekend Film Challenge ‘19. Karen has been a frequent guest speaking about theatre and playwriting on several writer/theater podcasts.

Karen has an MFA in Playwriting from The Actors Studio Drama School. She is a long time member of the the Playwright/Directors Workshop at The Actors Studio in NYC, The Dramatists Guild of America, The Scottish Society of Playwrights, and served on The Board of Directors for The League Of Professional Theater Women in 2022. Publications: 100 MONOLOGUES FROM NEW PLAYS 2020 -- WOMEN   Limelight Editions/The Applause Acting Series. The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2023- Perfectly Normal monologue. 

In addition to her playwriting career, Karen founded a theatre company The Call Theatre in 2021 that hosted local events that supports community and the arts.

All this experience has led to her to return to playing music as a thereminist where she plays and performs text in her co-developed show TIMESTAMP. Additionally, she has played as a thereminist and acted in the 2024 show Falling Sideways Off The Edge Of The Earth in NYC. That same year, she was also a thereminist in COMPOSITE, a short film.

She started her theatrical career at an early age. Born in New Jersey, she grew up studying various styles of dance with a strong focus on ballet. As a teen, she performed in The Nutcracker for several years with The New Jersey Dance Theatre Guild. After moving to New York City at a young age, she continued her studies in acting, dance and voice. Throughout those years, she began her playwriting career.

Karen has taught creative writing workshops across the United States, China, Athens, Greece, London, and Glasgow.

She is available for playwriting workshops. Contact: thecalltheatre@gmail.com