Highlands Little Theatre - Karen Cardozo Rosa

P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525

Karen Cardozo Rosa - An Amazing Pussycat
By: Roy Riedy

Ms. Rosa's name first appeared in the first program of the 10th Season at HLT in November, 1983. The playbill was for Lionel Bart's Dickensian musical, Oliver!, directed by Marian Dunham in which Karen was designated as "Back Drop Design & Artist" for the play and thus she started her five year association with Highlands Little Theatre. Symmetrically, Karen also appeared in the last program of HLT's 10th Season, Bill Manhoff's two person comedy The Owl and The Pussycat, directed by Peter Pollard. One reviewer, quite correctly called the play "the cat's pajamas."

The Eleventh Season at the Lakeside Playhouse opened with James Goldman's historical comedy, The Lion in Winter, which was interested in the majestic hassles of England's Henry II. Karen played one of them, Alais, a French Princess. During the second show of the season, Carol Gose's musical, The Pajama Game, Karen worked with the Gourmet Staff. The Man Who Came to Dinner appeared in April, the third show, in which Karen played Harriet Stanley on stage and was part of the Wardrobe crew behind the scenes. During Marian Dunham's musical Brigadoon, in June, Karen worked with the waitresses on the Gourmet Staff. The last play of the Eleventh Season was Peter Pollard's 1960 Tony nominated musical Once Upon a Mattress for which Karen designed the set and was Stage Manager and the Assistant Director.

With the Twelfth Season, HLT began the Zenon Awards, for which actors, plays, and technicians, vied for the equivalent of an Oscar or a Tony at the end of the season. Karen was involved with all five plays of this significant season. During the November offering of Director Frank Oberhausen's Broadway comic strip hit, Annie, Karen worked as a waitress with the Gourmet Staff. In January, 1986, Barbara Smith directed the Vincent Youmans' No, No, Nanette, in which Karen was cast as Pauline, the maid. Peter Pollard directed the comedy Arsenic and Old Lace in April during which Karen worked as a waitress and a House Manager. Janelou Buck directed the musical adaptation of Jan de Hartog's The Fourposter, I Do, I Do, another two person show, in June, and again Karen worked as a waitress and a House Manager. Karen's name also appeared in that program as now being a member of the Board of Directors of HLT. The final show of the season was Sue McCollum's comedy Vanities, with a cast of three women of which one, Kathy, was Ms. Cardozo. The looked-forward-to First Annual Zenon Awards Ceremony took place in early October with Karen winning the Award for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her vacuuming Pauline, in Barbara Smith's No, No, Nanette.

Karen was also involved in all five shows of the Thirteenth Season. She worked as a waitress in Gourmet during Marian Dunham's presentation of Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in November. In January, she was Barbara Smith's Assistant Director and Producer for the Hart and Kaufman comedy You Can't Take It With You; and in March she was a Set Artist and Publicist for Frank Oberhausen's reprise of Fiddler on the Roof. In June she and Richard Farnsworth co-directed the legendary The Fantasticks and Karen also participated in its Set Art and Publicity. During the last play of the season, Jet Hansen's The Odd Couple, Karen worked with the Gourmet Staff as a waitress. At the Second Annual Zenon Awards Ceremony Karen took home two awards, one for the Best Costume Design of the Season for her costumes in You Can't Take It With You, and the second for the Best Lighting Design for the Hart and Kaufman comedy which she shared with Frank Oberhausen. Three prizes in two years, the cat's meow!

The Fourteenth Season was Karen's last season with Highlands Little Theatre in which her name was mentioned, in the programs of the first three shows. The opening show, Carousel, was directed by Marian Dunham and Karen's name appeared as being a member of the Theatre's Board of Directors for a second term. Karen did the Cover and Poster for the second show, Peter Pollard's January comedy Barefoot in the Park. Frank Oberhausen's musical Carousel was the third show of the season and had the distinction of being the first play presented on the new state-of-the-art stage that had been in construction during the previous year. Karen's name appeared in the Carousel program for the last time, in the section devoted to the Officers and Members of the Board of Directors.

During her five years with HLT, Karen was involved in twenty plays and the recipient of three Zenon Awards in two years, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Theatre for two terms. Her name appeared in four Zenon Programs, thirteen HLT newsletters, one First Nighter list, and twenty-eight local news articles for a total of sixty-six citations. The Little Theatre was indeed fortunate in having her talented and generous advice during those formative and important years.

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