Karen Mockensturm - Chief Executive Officer

Karen Mockensturm (CEO) holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Florida. She is a former arts administrator at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, one of America’s premiere regional theaters. Her tenure at the Walnut included seven seasons, where she also served as Casting Director for over 50 productions including national and international co-productions. A member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Screen Actors’ Guild and the American Federation of Radio & Television Artists, Karen’s 16 year professional acting career (as Karen Hinton) included work in radio, television, film, improvisational comedy, and regional theater across the country. Favorite roles include: She in Maybe Baby, It’s You!, Viola in Twelfth Night, Frenchy in Grease, Kyra in Skylight, and Mary in Vanities. Some of Karen’s most important work off stage was as a teaching artist and acting instructor at the Walnut in Philadelphia and with the Roundabout Theatre Company, Creative Acting Company and Broadway Classroom in New York City. Karen relocated to Huntsville in 2002 and after almost a decade in the transportation industry, she was honored to take the helm at Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater & Academy in 2012. Under her leadership, Fantasy Playhouse has experienced unprecedented growth in both programmatic reach and revenues and was named 2017 Non-profit of the Year by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce and a 2023 Chick Fil-A Regional True Inspiration Award Winner. Karen serves on the (Huntsville) Committee of 100 and the Alabama Arts Alliance Board of Directors as the Chair of Youth Programming. She is a Past President for the Women’s Economic Development Council and currently serves as the co-chair for their Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. She has served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the ALSDE Arts Integration Grant Program and as a member of Mayor Tommy Battle’s Arts & Culture Advisory Council. An alumni of Leadership Greater Huntsville’s Flagship Class 31 and Focus 28, she received the Madison Alabama Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Award for Excellence in Service and Leadership and was recognized by the Girl Scouts of North Alabama as a 2018 Woman of Distinction. Karen believes in the power of theatre and arts education to serve as a change agent in today’s digital world and is deeply grateful to be part of a community that values creativity in all its forms.