Karen Ann Daniels
Karen Ann Daniels is the director of programming and artistic director of Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, she was director of the Mobile Unit at The Public Theater in New York City (NYC), where she welcomed more her neighbors in NYC and across the United States to gather through Mobile Unit productions. She also launched new programs such as Mobile Unit In Corrections, which brings the tools of theatre to incarcerated communities.
Karen Ann thrives through her own artistic work. She most recently worked as a visiting artist and co-devised a digital play with theater students from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. She served as composer/lyricist/collaborating playwright for gather ‘round, a musical film which premiered online at St. Mary’s College in April 2021. A native San Diegan, she is an accomplished actor, director, playwright, vocalist and musician.
In her prior role as associate director of arts engagement at The Old Globe, she managed community partnerships, and piloted and implemented key programs including Globe for All (a biannual tour of free plays across San Diego), coLAB (which devises original performances in collaboration with the community), Community Voices (a playwriting program for new writers) and Reflecting Shakespeare (a program that brings teaching on Shakespeare to corrections facilities). In 2019, her musical The Ruby in Us premiered as part of the coLAB project, which was co-created with the Fourth District Seniors Resource Center in San Diego. She joined The Old Globe in 2013, after working in the technology sector and as a teaching artist and director with Studio East’s ArtsReach! Program in Seattle, Washington.
Karen Ann served as chair of the Cultural Arts Commission of the City of Chula Vista, California, held a seat on the New California Arts Fund Leadership committee and was co-chair of a learning committee, representing the future of arts engagement for a cross-section of California arts organizations, through The James Irvine Foundation. She is also a co-producer and facilitator for the Biannual Shakespeare in Prisons Conference and Network.
She holds a BA in Art History from UCLA, an MFA in Musical Theater from San Diego State University and a certificate in Shakespeare from the British American Drama Academy.