MacDonald, Karen

PERSONAL

Education: Boston University, College of Fine Arts, graduated in 1972.

Career:

Actress. American Repertory Theatre Company, founding member.

Awards, Honors:

Elliot Norton Award, outstanding actress—small resident company, Boston Theatre Critics Association, 1996, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Irene Award nomination, best supporting actress—large company, Independent Reviewers of New England, 2006, for Dido, Queen of Carthage.

CREDITS

Stage Appearances:

Rosalind, As You Like It, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, MA, 1980, also produced at Shakespeare & Co., Lenox, MA.

Baby with the Bathwater, American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 1983.

The School for Scandal, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1983.

Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (musical; also known as Big River), American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1984.

The Custom of the Country, McGinn-Cazale Theatre, New York City, 1985.

Understudy for Frau Fahrenkopf, Judith Fellowes, and Hannah Jelkes, The Night of the Iguana, Roundabout Theatre Company, Criterion Center Stage Right, New York City, 1996.

Martha, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell, MA, c. 1996.

Gina, The Wild Duck, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1996-97.

Karen, Six Characters in Search of an Author, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1997.

Mrs. Pierson, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1997.

Chorus leader, The Bacchae, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1997-98.

Mrs. Darling, Peter Pan and Wendy, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1997-98.

Beline, The Imaginary Invalid, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1998.

Margaret Brennan, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, American Repertory Theatre, Hasty Pudding Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 1998.

Marilyn Monroe, Nobody Dies on Friday, American Repertory Theatre, Hasty Pudding Theatre, 1998.

Enone, Phaedra, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1998-99.

Boo, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Vineyard Playhouse, Vineyard Haven, MA, 1999.

Eileen, The Cripple of Inishmaan, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999.

Female interviewer, Valparaiso, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999.

The maid, Charlie in the House of Rue, American Repertory Theatre, Hasty Pudding Theatre, 1999.

Anais Nin, The Idiots Karamazov, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999-2000.

Zinaida, Ivanov, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999-2000.

Maureen, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Vineyard Playhouse, Vineyard Haven, MA, 2000.

Paulina, The Winter's Tale, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2000.

Translator and Ursula, Full Circle, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2000.

Madame Yelena Popov and Nastasya, Three Farces and a Funeral (consists of The Bear, The Proposal, TheWedding, and Chekhov on Ice), American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2000-2001.

Duchess of Gloucester and Duchess of York, Richard II, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2001.

Maria, Twelfth Night (also known as Twelfth Night, or What You Will), Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Wang Center for the Performing Arts, Boston, MA, 2001.

Mother Courage, Mother Courage and Her Children, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2001.

Emilia, Othello, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2001-2002.

Kalonika, Lysistrata (musical), American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2002.

Mother, Infestation, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Boston, MA, 2002.

Simonne Evrard, Marat/Sade, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2002.

Waitress, Circe, and other roles, Highway Ulysses, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2003.

Pericles, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2003.

Frosine, The Miser, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2004.

Hippolyta and Titania, A Midsummer Night's Dream, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2004.

Mademoiselle, The Provok'd Wife, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2004.

Meg, The Birthday Party, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2004.

Arsinoee, The Misanthrope, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, MA, c. 2004.

Anna (Dido's sister), Dido, Queen of Carthage (also known as Dido), American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2005.

Ellen, Olly's Prison, American Repertory Theatre, Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 2005.

Ma, My Heart & My Flesh, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2005.

Estelle, No Exit, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2006.

Euphrosine, Island of Slaves, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2006.

Nurse, Romeo and Juliet, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2006.

Family member of club owner, The Onion Cellar, American Repertory Theatre, Zero Arrow Theatre, 2006-2007.

Mrs. Bumble, Oliver Twist, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2007.

Appeared as Smeraldina, The King Stag, American Repertory Theatre, and in other productions of the American Repertory Theatre. Appeared in Arms and the Man, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dancing at Lughnasa, Orpheus Descending, Our Town, Shirley Valentine, Tartuffe, and Then There Were None, all with the Alley Theatre, Houston, TX. Appeared as Frankie in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and appeared in A Moon for the Misbegotten, both at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Appeared as the title role, Shirley Valentine, Charles Playhouse, Boston, MA. Appeared in Blanc de Blanc and Sills & Co., both New York City. Also appeared in other productions.

Major Tours:

The School for Scandal, U.S. cities, 1983.

Stage Work:

Director, Dressed Up, Wigged Out (pair of solo shows produced together), Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Boston, MA, 2005, also produced as a benefit at the Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 2005.

Film Appearances:

Carol Mann, Night School (also known as Terror Eyes), Paramount, 1981.

Girl in rain, Clean, Shaven, Strand Releasing, 1995.

Townswoman, The Crucible, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1996.

Janie, Orphan, ca.thar.tic filmWorks, 2001.

Washington real estate agent, What's the Worst that Could Happen?, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2001.

Herself, Chaos and Order: Making American Theater (documentary), Films for the Humanities, 2006.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Voice, Africans in America—America's Journey through Slavery (documentary; also known as Africans in America), PBS, 1998.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Nurse, "Getting Even: A Wimp's Revenge" (also known as "Getting Even"), ABC Afterschool Specials, ABC, 1986.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Mrs. Horton, "Denial," Law & Order (also known as Law & Order Prime), NBC, 1997.

Voice, "Apocalypse!," Frontline, PBS, 1999.

Voice of Brownie Wise, "Tupperware!," The American Experience, PBS, 2004.

Voice, "The Age of AIDS," Frontline, PBS, 2006.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

Boston Globe, January 4, 2004.