Karen Vickery (she/her) is a Canberra based actor and director. She was co-founder of Pigeonhole Theatre and played Mrs Betterton in their acclaimed production of Playhouse Creatures which played at QPAC, before touring to Mondial du Theatre Festival in Monte Carlo, followed by regional tours of NSW, Brisbane Qld, and Victoria. For Pigeonhole she directed Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and starred in Switzerland by Joanna Murray Smith at Canberra Theatre Centre.

 

Since graduating from NIDA in 1983, Karen has appeared in many guest roles on television, worked in radio dramas for ABC, and voiced several documentaries. She acted for Sydney Theatre Company, and in commercial productions. Highlights include Nicholas Nickleby and All My Sons for STC, and A streetcar Named Desire with Angela Punch McGregor, Martin Shaw, and Katrina Foster in which Karen played Eunice.

 

Karen is also a founder of Independent Theatre Collective, ACT Hub and Artistic Director of resident theatre company Chaika Theatre. At ACT Hub, Karen has produced and performed in Three Tall Women, Collected Stories, The Children, and Seagull which she translated and adapted. Chaika presented Kate Mulvany’s adaptation of Mary Stuart and most recently, Vickery adapted and directed The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca, and produced Julius Caesar in which she played Casca. Chaika has received Canberra Critics’ Circle Awards, and Ovation Awards.

 

In 2022, Karen received the Helen Tsongas Award for outstanding Acting at the Canberra Critics Awards. During that year she played Lockstock in Heartstring’s highly successful Urinetown with sold out seasons at Canberra Theatre Centre and The Hayes Theatre, and Jacques in As You Like It for Lakespeare directed by Tony Knight. In 2023 she received a Canberra Critics Award and three Ovations Awards for the production of The Children by Lucy Kirkwood and in 2024, was awarded a Canberra Critics award for her adaptation of Seagull and her performance as Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart.

 

Karen holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art from NIDA and was a lecturer and Head of Department at NIDA from 1996-2011. She has performed for Sydney Theatre Company and at Belvoir as well as in commercial theatre, film and television over her 40+ year professional career. She also has a BA Hons from the University of Melbourne and an MA in Theatre Studies from UNSW.

 

Karen was Chair of Canberra Youth Theatre from 2017-2023 and is a member of the Performing Arts Reference Group for the new development of Canberra Theatre Centre.

From 2011-2022, Karen was Director of Access and Learning at the National Portrait Gallery leading a team of Educators and Front of House staff and serving on the gallery’s Directorate.

 

She has translated Russian plays for NIDA, WAAPA, Sydney Theatre Company, Sport for Jove, and Belvoir, most recently creating a new site specific version of Seagull for ACT Hub soon to be published by Janus Publications.

 

In 2023-2024 Karen has played Lear for Echo Theatre at QPAC, Arkadina in Seagull, Alice in Queers, Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart, and Violet Weston in August:Osage County at ACT Hub before appearing in The Inheritance in the role of Margaret.

 

Also in 2024, Karen completed filming for a multi media production of Alice: Mother of Cinema, a coproduction of National Theatre of Parramatta and NIDA directed by Mark Bolotin. She also filmed a guest role in an episode of NCIS: Sydney as Russian Consul-General, Lina Bukovska, and wrapped filming of an independent film by Jess Beange called Animal.

 

She has recently appeared in the Playwrought production of The Taming of the Shrew at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney as Baptista. She also recently appeared in a guest role in Caper Crew, a new children’s tv series.