Katie Lupica is a director, artistic leader, and educator. At UTK, she teaches courses in directing and play analysis. She is also the Associate Artistic Director of the Clarence Brown Theatre. Katie’s creative work centers on stories, old and new, that bring communities together, ask difficult questions in new ways, and invigorate the human spirit. Her research interests include transformation, recreation, sacrament, stewardship, and public imagination. She came to UT as a freelance director from Chicago, by way of New York City, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and her hometown of Phoenix.

Directing work includes productions and developmental projects at Kane Repertory Theatre and the Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts in Chicago; Cleveland Play House, Dobama Theatre (DEAP Ensemble), and French Creek Theatre in Cleveland; Access Theater, Ugly Rhino, NY Int’l Fringe Festival, Gallery Players, and NYU Steinhardt in New York City; Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Stone on a Walk, and Know Theatre in Cincinnati; Hangar Theatre, Artpark Buffalo, and SUNY Brockport in upstate New York; and Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. She has also worked in assistant and associate roles Off-Broadway (MCC, The Pearl), on Broadway (Godspell), and at regional theaters across the country, most recently including Lookingglass Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Katie previously taught directing and collaboration at Northwestern University and North Park University. She has also worked in artistic and literary management with Samuel French Inc, The Off Off Broadway Festival, and Signature Theater Company. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow and an Associate Member of SDC. Katie is also the recipient of the Sir John Gielgud Fellowship and directing fellowships at Cleveland Play House, Geva Theatre Center, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. 

MFA in Directing, Northwestern University. BA in History and Drama, Columbia University.