KO to Direct Robin de Jesús, Katerina McCrimmon and More in IN THE HEIGHTS Benefit Concert

Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guess she got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805

JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805

"

KO uses they/them pronouns

Huss417 said: "Not sure why when I saw the subject I thought it was going to be about Nicki Cochrane."

Not entirely unreasonable, tbh.

Quinn Wilson said: "JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805

"

KO uses they/them pronouns"

Given the article makes no reference to KO's pronouns how would the original poster know?

Did she time her return to align with Scott Rudin’s?

https://communication.northwestern.edu/faculty/ko.html

Quinn Wilson said: "SeanD2 said: "Quinn Wilson said: "JSquared2 said: "Looks like Karen Olivo (who goes by KO now!) will be directing a concert of IN THE HEIGHTS at the O'Neill Center! I guessshe got bored making pottery in Wisconsin and is testing the waters to make her triumphant (3rd or 4th?) return to Broadway!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/KO-to-Direct-Robin-de-Jess-Katerina-McCrimmon-and-More-in-IN-THE-HEIGHTS-Benefit-Concert-20250805

KO uses they/them pronouns"

Given the article makes no reference to KO's pronounshow would the original poster know?"

They wouldn’t, I’m simply updating them. There’s no malicious intent behind my original reply, simply letting them know."



Quinn Wilson I'd be happy to respond to you -- but that response would get me banned. So have a blessed day!

kdogg36 said: "The Distinctive Baritone said: "it is so much more profitable to charge theatre students thousands of dollars a year to train in a profession they will likely leave before they are thirty. <>"

Unless the theater department is very different from other academic disciplines, it's Northwestern that charges students for tuition, and the universityjust pays KO a salary. I don't know enough to comment about their other activities, but higher education is an honorable profession."

I have a PhD in theatre and have taught at both the college and high school levels. I know Northwestern pays her (come on now), although most college theatre professors carry the burden of both recruiting students and retaining them. Anyway, being a teacher, I of course believe that teaching in general is an honorable profession, but I have major issues with the overpriced BFA factory that higher education in the performing arts has become. That is one of the reasons why I would rather teach high schoolers who are doing it for fun than college kids who are going into massive debt to prepare for a career that has a success rate of like, five percent. KO is absolutely part of an exploitative system, and I just find that deeply hypocritical after all of her social media rants, etc.

The Distinctive Baritone said: Anyway, being a teacher, I of course believe that teaching in general is an honorable profession"

I honestly don't mean to pick on you, but if you believe that, then why would you use their status as a theater professor as an argument against them? It's definitely not KO's fault if colleges admit more theater majors than are necessary by some economic standard, and I suspect many students who don't pursue careers on stage still benefit from their education.

Updated On: 8/5/25 at 10:23 PM

kdogg36 said: "The Distinctive Baritone said: Anyway, being a teacher, I of course believe that teaching in general is an honorable profession"

I honestly don't mean to pick on you, but if you believe that, then why would you use their status as a theater professor as an argument against them? It's definitely not KO'sfault if colleges admit more theater majors than are necessary by some economic standard, and I suspect many students who don't pursue careers on stage still benefit from their education."

It's fine - I think it's actually a conversation that should be had more often. Honestly, now being middle aged and having been through three different university theatre programs and witnessed only a small fraction of the acting students at these places go on to have successful careers, I feel like all acting professors - as well intended as they might be - are inherently complicit in creating a vastly oversaturated marketplace filled with young hopefuls who spent four years of their lives and a small fortune on a theatre degree but will inevitably end up abandoning show business within a few years. I think actor training is important, but a lot these programs prey on vulnerable kids whose dreams are bigger than their bank accounts.

I also find it particularly ironic that after all their very public railing against the theatre industry, KO now makes their living (and a rather nice one I'm sure) feeding it more actors to chew up and spit out.