Karen Hines’ multi-prize-winning plays, productions, performances combine such disparate elements as magical realism, pink-brand feminism and environmental disarray. Karen is a two- time finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Drama and a 2020 finalist for the Siminovitch Prize. Her solo plays and ‘little’ films featuring her character ‘Pochsy’ have traveled the globe. Hines has directed and collaborated with fellow artists at venues such as One Yellow Rabbit, Joe’s Pub (Public Theatre), Astor Place Off-Broadway, Tarragon, Videofag, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, NAC, and has created original works for Boca del Lupo. Her All the Little Animals I Have Eaten was translated for Jamais Lu 2022 (Mishka Lavigne), and the real estate horror Crawlspace continues to micro-theatres across Canada in French and English. Hines is a Gemini and Dora Award-winning performer. Her solo Crawlspace is being adapted as screenplay, and is now a CBC podcast (PlayMe; Radio One). Her newest show Pochsy IV premiered in January 2023 (High Performance Rodeo) and will soon tour to multiple cities.

As a theatre maker, director and currently co Artistic Director of Boca del Lupo in Vancouver BC I’ve been creating intimate immersive installations, made work inside theatres, and created large scale site activations for over 20 years. 

My productions have toured across Canada, Latin America and Europe, with commissions and premiers at theatres and at festivals.  

In addition to more traditional venues, my work has brought artists and audiences to old growth forests with performers rigged up 40 to 75 feet in the tree tops, to darken shipping containers experiencing the auditory journey of crossing the Pacific, under the ocean waters where we follow an archeologist 150 years into the future.  I’ve worked on an interactive installation about climate change and our relationship to the guilt and isolation that people carry, involving the audience charging a battery on a stationary bicycle, a giant puppet piece that brings audiences into the imagined life of these creatures on land, ocean and sky.  

As theatre maker my passion for creating new performance with Boca del Lupo and through collaborative pursuits has instigated international co productions with Mexico, Argentina, Ireland and South Korea. 

As a director, workshop facilitator and teacher I’ve freelanced for companies and schools in Vancouver and across Canada. During my tenure Boca del Lupo has received numerous awards including the Alcan Performing Arts Award, Jessie Richardson awards, and the Critics Choice Award for Innovation and I have been nominated for the national Siminovitch Prize for directing. 

Past committee work includes: the Studio 58 Arts Advisory, Canada Council’s REAC committee, the Arts Advisory for Theatre Section and the BC Arts Council Advisory.  I’ve launched the 3.7% local and National Leadership Initiatives – and advocacy group to support emerging and established BIPOC women and non binary artists in leadership, and since the pandemic, Stop Asian Hate, an initiative that has galvanized Asian Canadian Leadership in the performing arts across Canada to help stop the spread of anti- Asian sentiments through connection and support within our communities.