Karen Berger

Karen has worked in Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe as a performer/devisor, director, musical director and teacher. She is a long-term member one of Melbourne’s premier improvisation companies, Melbourne Playback; and of the Environmental Performance Authority, who create site-specific, participatory experiences for audiences.

Karen formed Bowerbird Theatre with David Joseph to create Deceptive Threads, which had three successful seasons and won the Khayrallah Lebanese Diaspora Art Prize. In 2018, they created Lingua Botanica, an immersive aural and visual investigation of plant cognition and therapeutic horticulture. In 2021 they launched a narrative audio tour at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

Career highlights include: musical directing and performing in Walk on Water (Melbourne City Baths) and working with the Women’s Circus, and performing at the Melbourne International Arts Festival and Singapore International Children’s Festival , Alice Springs Festiva and co-directing Forest Beats, a circus show with 300 Zambian street children.

Karen has a B. Music Performance and Grad. Dip. Animateuring from V.C.A. and was awarded Victoria University College of Arts 'Most outstanding postgraduate by research student' for her M.A. Her PhD, Exploring the Interior, used site-specific theatre to investigate postcolonialism. She is a qualified forest therapy guide.