Katie Lupica

Katie (she/her) is a director, artistic leader, and educator most passionate about regional theater and regional audiences. She directs plays, old and new, that bring communities together, ask difficult questions in new ways, and invigorate the human spirit. Katie grew up in Phoenix, AZ, and is currently based in Knoxville, TN, by way of Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City. She teaches at the University of Tennessee and is the Associate Artistic Director at Clarence Brown Theatre.
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Recent projects include Twelfth Night at Kane Repertory Theatre (Chicago); Everybody by Branden Jacobs Jenkins, Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus, Stargazer (original work), and The Lover by Harold Pinter at Northwestern University; Elektra (adapt. Anne Carson) at Dobama Theatre (DEAP Ensemble); Little Shop of Horrors at French Creek Theatre; Good Kids by Naomi Iizuka at SUNY Brockport (Geva Directing Fellow); Oh Oh You Will Be Sorry by Claire Kiechel and The Velveteen Rabbit (adapt. James Still) at the Hangar Theatre; Diary of Lights by Adrienne Kennedy with The Drama League (workshop, First Stage Residency); Chemistry by Jacob Marx Rice (Cincinnati Fringe, Producer's Pick of the Fringe) and Pains of Youth by Ferdinand Bruckner (trans. Martin Crimp) with her theater company, The Cake Shop; Lysistrata (adapt. Catherine Weingarten) with Stone on a Walk Cincinnati; short plays by Julia Jordan, Bekah Brunstetter, and Josh Koenigsberg at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Portrait and a Dream by Jacob Marx Rice at the New York Int'l Fringe Festival; and The Saint Plays by Erik Ehn at Barnard College. She has also directed short plays, workshops, and readings at Northwestern University, Cleveland Play House, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, The Gallery Players, Ugly Rhino, The Cake Shop, Columbia University, NYU, and Powerhouse/NY Stage & Film.
 
Katie's regional assisting and dramaturgy credits include The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Lookingglass, dir. Mary Zimmerman), All's Well That Ends Well  (Chicago Shakes, dir. Shana Cooper), The Odyssey (Artpark, dir. Roger Danforth, SDCF Gielgud Fellow), Pygmalion (Williamstown, dir. Nicholas Martin), and Shakespeare in Love (dir. Laura Kepley) and Macbeth (dir. Taibi Magar) at Cleveland Play House, where she was the 17-18 Artistic Directing Fellow. Katie also spent a season as Directing Fellow at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where she assisted directors KJ Sanchez, Timothy Douglas, Blake Robison, Michael Haney, and Wendy C. Goldberg. NYC assistant directing includes Smokefall  (MCC, dir. Anne Kauffman), Stupid Fu**ing Bird (Pearl Theater, dir. Davis McCallum), and the Broadway revival of Godspell (dir. Daniel Goldstein, SDCF Observer).
 
Katie has also worked in artistic and literary management with Samuel French Inc, The Off Off Broadway Festival, and Signature Theatre Company. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow and an Associate Member of SDC. MFA, Northwestern University. BA, Columbia University.