Phillip Karnell

Playwriting

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PHILLIP KARNELL recently served as Chair of the Department of Film, Theatre, and Communication Arts for three years.  He now serves as a full tenured professor on the teaching faculty.  He has been a faculty member in the Playwriting unit of the MFA Creative Writing Workshop Program since its inception in 1991.  Mr. Karnell has directed over 70 productions in a variety of styles at University, Regional, and Off-Broadway theatres, including Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre in New York City.  He has directed numerous productions at UNO including The Diviners, The Taming of the Shrew, Planet Fires, Miss Julie, Measure for Measure, A Flea in Her Ear, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, Modigliani, Lot’s Daughters, Endgame, A Moon For The Misbegotten, Glengarry Glen Ross, and An Evening of Greek Theatre.   In New Orleans, he has also directed at the CAC and Tulane’s Center Stage.  Mr. Karnell is the recipient of an American College Theatre Festival National Award for Excellence for his direction of Paula Vogel’s original script, Meg.  He’s associated with two other ACTF National Award winning student written scripts (as Dramaturg for UNO alumnus Shirley Sergent’s Father’s Prize Poland China in 1995 and as Director of UNO alumnus Rebecca Basham’s Lot’s Daughters in 2000).  Mr. Karnell was also the director of three New Orleans Big Easy Awards for Best University Production (The Diviners 1988, Lot’s Daughters, 2000 and Glengarry Glen Ross, 2002).  Mr. Karnell as a practicing playwright, received a Citation Award from the Sundance Theatre Institute.  His plays include Every Mother’s Son, Snow Birds, and Jessie’s Dream.   His screenplay, Mother Wit, was the Department’s Spring Film production in 2004.  Mr. Karnell is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and The Dramatists Guild and a proud recipient of UNO’s International Alumni Association 2001 Excellence in Teaching Award.  Professor Karnell holds an MA degree from Penn State University and an MFA degree from Cornell University.

Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Arts