Media

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For media on Daughters of Jubilation, check out the YA tab!

On The Truth of Right Now

On Welcome to Fear City

On Listen for the Light

On Holly Down in Heaven

On AliceGraceAnon

On Julius by Design

General

  • ​An interview about collaboration and other things for Works by Women.

  • I’m interviewed here by the incomparable Adam Szymkowicz, who has interviewed 1000 playwrights!

Play Review Quotes

Welcome to Fear City

“Kara Lee Corthron’s riveting new play ‘Welcome to Fear City’ ushers in the heat of hip-hop with a powerfully well written story…The strength of ‘Fear City’ is it’s ability to creatively bound from poetic prose, to poignant dialogue, to the imaginative use of visuals…” - Paul Bolton, Broadway World

“Kara Lee Corthron’s 'Welcome to Fear City' … creates a clever kaleidoscopic structure to underline the marginalization of her characters, inhabitants of the Bronx in the late 1970s. It’s the most daringly inventive of the offerings.” - Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“It’s surprising how quickly a time period can be captured with a few props, boom box, land line phone and some huge Afro wigs. This world premiere by the talented Kara Lee Corthron is filled with sights and sounds from the 1970’s era, along with the ubiquitous thumping of the beat, and inklings of staccato rhythms just inches away from busting out in the rhymes and flow of desperation, the fertile nascent brooding period that incubated hip hop.” - Debbie Minter Jackson, DC Theatre Scene

“You won’t exit Welcome to Fear City with a catharsis of understanding, no pity and fear will have exited your body like Oedipus’s, no supreme laughter will have lifted your soul above the gods. You will probably leave the theatre, however, a little bit wiser for the shattering of expectations you’ve just experienced.” - Robert Michael Oliver, DC Metro Arts

Listen for the Light

“Kara Lee Corthron’s world-premiere historical drama about an ex-slave, a doomed Mormon prophet and his barely literate teen bride is dark, funny and touching.” - Erica Reid, CityBeat

“The real Joseph Smith’s creation of a religious movement must have come from his ability to give people hope even as he spun tales of angels and buried golden tablets. Corthron is true to that version of the Mormon founder. Her characters, like real people are battered. They also hold on to hope.” - Ken Stern, League of Cincinnati Theatres

“The production at Know Theatre is not designed to be a documentary, but it is a fearless modern telling of the conflict of religion, race, and women’s rights, and how dissimilar people can connect and positively influence others, despite their flaws. This play intrigued me, encouraging me to do more research on this often-misunderstood religion.” - Liz Eichler, League of Cincinnati Theatres

AliceGraceAnon

“Kara Lee Corthron’s play is an ambitious work with a lot of heart which transforms the play into an experience beyond the text itself…The raw creative energy of the piece, which will be anathema to some theatregoers who crave more traditional fare, is like a drug for me.  I was high off of this production, and its fearless choices won me over from the first moment I entered the Irondale Center.  If you are looking for a piece that personifies true creativity and innovative spirit, a play that challenges your views about the aesthetic of downtown theatre, or even if you like the 1960s and want to go listen to some fantastic live music, go see AliceGraceAnon.” - Bess Rowen, The Huffington Post  

“Kara Lee Corthron’s writing is quite inventive and ties the lives of these three women together in lovely overlapping, contrasting and ultimately synchronized ways. Issues of choice, who writes women’s lives and the reality behind the hero worship of them or their creators is dealt with very well…the underlying structure of the play itself is quite strong and using the tri-fold stories of related semi-fictional/semi-real women attempting to break free from their scripts is a refreshing take on a very old problem.” - Julia Lee Barclay, nytheatre.com

Holly Down in Heaven

“Saint Simeon spent years living atop a pillar, the story goes. Saint Anthony of Egypt withdrew to the desert. Could they have chosen those routes to holiness because they lived prior to the Barbie franchise’s Dolls of the World collection?  The protagonist of ‘Holly Down in Heaven,’ Kara Lee Corthron’s bold, funny new play, might say so.” - Celia Wren, The Washington Post

“The Forum Theatre’s world premiere of Kara Lee Corthron’s new dark comedy Holly Down in Heaven is fabulous!  Not only does it spur the imagination and rouse the intellect, but it also does what theatre is meant to do: it speaks directly to the world in which we live, and it does so in a refreshingly marvelous way.  This show exemplifies why we should all encourage theatres to produce new works every chance they get…Kara Lee Corthron’s Holly Down in Heaven is a magnificent journey into the psychological landscape of a teenage girl, done with insight and humor—a rare combination these days of spectacle and gratuitousness.” - Robert Michael Oliver, Maryland Theatre Guide

“In Corthron’s tight script, laughter and pathos shift capriciously…the play is refreshing and original.  The dialogue is unapologetically sharp, and the characters come out recognizable and resonant on a very human level.  Uncannily, the army of talking puppets only enhances the show’s nuanced humanity.” - Robert Duffley, DC Theatre Scene

“Holly Down in Heaven is an entertaining night of theater and an honest look at adolescence and growing up.  And it fulfills the Forum Theater’s mandate to talk about important issues in the world – like religion and responsibility and just how much you can blame your parents for your life.” - Jessica Vauhgan, DC Metro Theater Arts