Welcome to the support group for people named Karen.

We’ve all seen angry and entitled ‘Karens’— throwing tantrums on the internet, threatening to call the police on bird-watchers of color, yelling at fast-food workers, making a scene in a Walmart. Many of us have wondered if, in a time of frustration, we ourselves were being too much of a Karen. Some of us have even been called Karens.

But, believe it or not, there are some people out there who are named Karen. That’s their actual name. People who must walk through their days knowing the very name their parents gave them is now an insult. This film is for them.

Join us at your local community center where women named Karen come together to support each other through this cruel twist of fate.

A riotous short film from comedian Katie Goodman and the women of the internationally-touring, award-winning, satirical comedy show Broad Comedy.

Take a seat, Karen. We’re here for you.

 Director’s Statement

The concept of a ‘Karen’ has come to carry so much cultural complexity. The idea of a ‘Karen,’ of course, began as an important label for recognizing a very specific brand of weaponized entitlement and racial bullying. It made sense that it was a woman’s name, as it was specifically the “You’re threatening me” imagined victimhood that was being called out—a white woman calls the police on a Black man, saying she’s being threatened and knowing that authorities will ‘protect’ her.

But over time, and many many memes, this idea morphed into calling out “Let me speak to your manager” tantrums generally—and so, as an ordinary woman’s name has become a generalized insult for obnoxious privilege, it’s also evolved into being uncomfortably anti-woman. Do white men not also need to examine their wielding of entitlement, racial or otherwise? Are we really going to call them Male-Karens?

But through it all… I can’t help but feel sorry for my friend Karen.

That's her name. She’s a very nice person. You’d like her.

—Katie Goodman, Brooklyn, NYC

Director / Administrator Karen - Katie Goodman

Katie Goodman, along with her husband Soren Kisiel (author of The Karens), are the co-authors and co-directors of Broad Comedy, an internationally touring, award-winning, all-women sketch comedy and political satire troupe headlined by Katie, which has garnered millions of views online, run Off-Broadway, been showcased at Caroline’s Comedy Club in Times Square, won the Pick-of-the-Fringe Award at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, and was listed as one of the top ten sketch troupes at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Broad Comedy has been touring the USA for the last 20 years, and has raised over $2,000,000 for progressive feminist causes through their comedy shows. Katie has been seen on Showtime’s The Green Room With Paul Provenza, and Impractical Jokers (and yes, she was in on the joke). Katie and Soren were nominated for the White House Project’s Emerging Artists Award, and for the MacArthur Foundation's Fellowship for their unique work in theater. www.katiegoodman.com

cinematographer - SAM HENRIQUES

Two time Emmy award winner Sam Henriques is now in production on a feature Documentary about the elusive conceptual artist Dave Hammons. His recent credits include Hate Thy Neighbor: Hunting the White Devil / Viceland, Mouth Full of Shame: Jim Norton / Netflix, Indiana Joe’s / A&E, Failosophy / MTV and Armageddon 101 / Nat Geo. His short film about inventor Dean Kamen; Sling Shot premiered at and won third place at Sundance Film Festival in the Focus Forward: Short Films Big Ideas series. The feature length version of Sling Shot can now be seen on Netflix. Sam’s recent documentary works include: The Good Soldier, which won him an Emmy as Producer, Portrait of Wally, Burning the Future, Good People Go To Hell, Nursery University,The Klezmatics, A Cantor’s Tale, and My Architect.  Henriques is best known for shooting Academy Award nominee Angola; The Farm, Produced and Directed by  Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus, about inmates at the notorious Angola State Penitentiary for which he won a Primetime Emmy for non-fiction Cinematography. www.samhenriques.com

Writer - SOREN KISIEL

Soren is the co-author/director of Broad Comedy, an internationally-touring all-women sketch comedy and musical satire troupe written with his wife comedian Katie Goodman, named a Time Out New York Critics’ Pick for their Off-Broadway run at New York City's SoHo Playhouse. He is the librettist of an original, non-Japan-based adaptation of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado which London’s Opera Now magazine called “ingenuously written and hilariously funny,” and the children’s books The Night Our Parents Went Out and Once Upon a Tree. Soren has a second-degree blackbelt in taekwondo, and is ordained in the Plum Village Zen Buddhist tradition, which means he could kick your butt if he wasn’t so darned peaceful. www.sorenkisiel.com

Counselor Karen - Aubrey Lace Taylor

Aubrey Lace Taylor is a performance artist with a background in comedy, physical theatre, and vocal performance. After completing training at Circle in the Square Conservatory, she worked in Children's Theatre writing, directing, touring, and performing at New World Stages. Other accomplishments include performing over 1,100 shows in Off-Broadway's hit Drunk Shakespeare, securing 1st place in Seattle's August Wilson Workshop/Monologue Competition, and being cast in Stanford University's studio performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream as Hermia. When Aubrey is not working in theatre, she enjoys shooting photography and working behind the scenes in film/tv productions such as Showtime's Three Women, Somewhere in Queens, and HBO's The Other Two.

Crying Karen - Tana Sirois

Tana Sirois trained at The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts. Film credits include Alexis (Blue Bloods), Katie (For Hope), and Elise (Whisper). NYC theatre credits: the title role in Fernando Arrabal's Garden Of Delights, Alice in Painted Alice, Nina in Stupid Fucking Bird, Tracy in Seascape With Sharks And Dancer, Judy in Easy Laughter, and a screwed up version of herself in Crushing Baby Animals which she co-wrote in 2019. Most recently. she devised and performed My Favorite Person at HERE Arts. She is part of the international theatre collective, The How, Co-Founder of Culture Lab LIC, Artistic Director of Dirt [contained] Theatre Company, and a proud company member in the feminist, musical comedy troupe, Broad Comedy, which has played Off-Broadway at The SoHo Playhouse. www.tanasirois.com

phone filming karen - molly kelleher

Molly Kelleher's acting and writing work has brought her to stages off-broadway, to create content for multiple organizations (teenVOGUE and Forward Montana), and to produce short films and webseries. Additionally, she owns a yoga/Pilates/fitness company, Bumble+Flow. mollykelleher.com Socials: @mollyakelleher

not-karen karen- danielle cohn

Danielle Cohn is currently in the Off-Broadway hit comedy Drunk Shakespeare, in which she has done over 600 performances. She is also a proud Broad of over 6 years, board member for Fat Knight Theatre, and most recently director/composer for playwright Charlotte Ahlin's Plague Doctor (SheNYC Arts Festival winner: Best Production, Best Director; Honorable Mention Best Score). She holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and has UCB improv training. For more, visit daniellecohn.wixsite.com/actress/