Karina P. Majewski
Karina P. Majewski is a writer, performer, mother, and wife living and working in NYC.
education
M.F.A in Acting – California Institute of the Arts 2019
B.A. in Teatre, Minor in Politics – Willamette University 2015
Classical Acting Semester Course – London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art 2013
residencies
Orein Arts Residency
Mt. Saviour Monastery, NY; August 2023
In rural Upstate New York, an opportunity to immerse in the rhythms of prayer, work of the Benedictine Monks who live there.
Site de pratiques théâtrales
Lavauzelle, France; August 2019
An intensive workshop in traditional folk singing and polyphony led by Teatr ZAR’s Jean François Favreau.
El Acermaiento / The Approach
El Ciervo Encantado, La Habana, Cuba; March 2018
The devised salsa-dream-play Rueda was presented in La Habana as a part of a three-year collaboration between artists from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Los Angeles, Academia Nacional de Artes San Alejandro, and Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA).
performances
Becoming Becoming (director/performer) – Self – Arthouse2B
St. Lucy (writer/performer/director) – Agatha – Arthouse2B
The Jeweler’s Shop (adapter/performer) – Teresa – Arthouse2B; dir. James T. Majewski
Arranged (writer/performer) – Evelyn – Arthouse2B; dir. James T. Majewski
Ruah: Breath of Life (immersive/writer/performer) – Gallerygoer – Arthouse2B; dir. James T. Majewski
The Saints: Kateri Tekakwitha (radio) – Kateri – Merry Beggars/Relevant Radio; dir. Kevin Collins
Word of Life (series) – Anna – Ignatius Press/Augustine Institute; dir. Gary Gasse
Rueda (devised) – Ensemble – El Ciervo Encantado (La Habana, Cuba); dir. Evelyn Serrano
Kiss by Guillermo Calderón – Hadeel/Andrea – Walt Disney Modular Theater; dir. Monty Cole
The Maids by Jean Genet – Madame – CalArts BB2; dir. Manon Manavit
My Name is Bernadette (audiobook) – St. Bernadette – Catholic Culture Audiobooks
Top Girls by Caryl Churchill – Pope Joan/Win – Willamette University Theatre; dir. Susan Coromel
The Trojan Women by Euripides – Chorus – Willamette University Theatre; dir. Jonathan Cole
Brightly Dawning Day (devised) – Ensemble – Willamette University Theatre; dir. Jonathan Cole
Falling Out (workshop) – Ensemble – CalArts Center for New Performance & Phantom Limb Company; dir. Jessica Grindstaff
Sophia Waters Her Couch (devised) – Empress Sophia Alekseyevna – CalArts; dir. Manon Ida Manavit
Children Cannot Sleep (premiere musical) – Val – CalArts School of Music; dir./Comp. Gillian Perry
Phantasmagoria (immersive) – Victorian Woman – Heritage Square Museum, dir. Melissa Ferrari
Gendering Memories in Iraq (immersive) – Storyteller – Pomona College Museum of Art, dir. Hayv Kahraman –
Inquiring After the Infinite (immersive) – Kinship Highland Park; dir. Lianne Walden
writing
An experimental concert-play depicting the life and martyrdom of St. Lucy. Performed on Friday, September 13th at St. Joe’s in Greenwich Village.
In June 2024, NYC-based artist collective Arthouse2B presented a new adaptation of the play by Karol Wojtyla (Pope Saint John Paul II) in the parlor rooms of the priory at St. Vincent Ferrer Church.
In June 2023, Arthouse2B presented an immersive art performance featuring artwork by Erin K. McAtee and performances of poetry, music, dance and drama by Fr. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR, Christa Dalmazio, Claire Kretzschmar, and James and Karina Majewski.
Arranged
In March 2022, James and Karina Majewski performed in Arranged, a new original play written by Karina, directed by James, and produced with support from Arthouse2B. It was produced again with a fresh cast and creative team in November 2023 at Theatre 71 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Arranged examines the joy and angst of marriage, refracted through the prism of a dystopian world in which arranged pairs must either agree to marry — or else.
more writing
Luncheonette
In this heartfelt and off-beat one-act, two friends discuss death and coffee.
Her Name is Sorrow
In the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, eight women live simple lives of service and prayer. Dolores, a sixteen-year-old pregnant runaway, arrives seeking shelter in unfamiliar territory. Loosely based on the traditional “Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary”, Her Name Is Sorrow is a chronicle of suffering, redemption, and hope, seen through the eyes of an all-female cast of characters.
Her Name is Sorrow was presented in a workshop performance at the California Institute of the Arts in January 2021, directed by James T. Majewski.
St. James Infirmary Blues
Donia has some serious problems. Finals are coming up, she’s afraid to break up with her abusive boyfriend, her mother might be in danger — oh, and she’s been murdering the neighborhood animals. As her life spirals further and further down the rabbit hole, she finds it harder and harder to stay silent. St. James Infirmary Blues explores what happens when the oppressed becomes the oppressor in one girl’s desperate fight for control.
St. James Infirmary Blues was presented in a workshop performance at Willamette University in April 2015, directed by Caroline McFarland. It was re-presented in a new devised workshop performance for the CalArts New Works Festival in April 2017, directed by Manon Manavit.
training
Acting: Marissa Chibás • Mirjana Joković • Mira Kingsley • Gina Belafonte (camera) • Roger Guenveur Smith (solo performance) • Susan Coromel • Jonathan Cole (devising) • Tina Marian (Shakespeare) • Henry Lewis (improv) • Nancy Hayden (improv) • Carrie-ann Pishnak (improv)
Voice & Speech: Susan Coromel (Linklater/Skinner) • Rafael Lopez Barrantes (Barrantes Vocal System) • Carmina Escobar (experimental techniques) • Jean-François Favreau (polyphony) • Dwight Bacquie (Skinner/teaching Speech) • Bernard Van De Yacht (voice-over) • Mary Louise Gemmill (voice-over)
Movement: Anthony Nikolchev • Julie Bour • Stacy Dawson Stearns • Nani Agbeli (Ghanaian dance) • Jessie Fouts (jazz dance) • Babete Markus (Alexander Technique) • Diana Scrivener (historical dance)
Other training: Mona Heinze (dramaturgy) • Charles McNulty (playwriting) • Amanda Shank (playwriting) • Jane Picket (playwriting) • Bart DeLorenzo (dramaturgy) • Lewis Klahr (screenwriting & collage) • Janie Geiser (puppetry)
special skills
Languages: conversational Farsi, basic French; Dialects: British RP, General Southern, good ear and proficient knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); Polyphonic singing and chant; Skiing
contact
karinapmajewski@gmail.com
Karina Majewski 