New Contributor Interview: Karen McKevitt
SFist hit our cultural apex a few years back when we subscribed to a season of ACT. Luckily we’ve managed to recruit the talented Karen McKevitt who we take to be the final word on all things the-ay-tar in the Bay Area. Read her reviews and you’ll be wise to which shows to hit and which to skip.
Karen has lived in the Bay Area most of her life. After picking up an MFA in creative writing (poetry, no less) at SFSU, Karen decided to get into the only-more-slightly practical field of theater writing. The career change may have been subliminally suggested by her poetry thesis advisor, who asked: Do playwrights really have more fun? She decided to marry one to find out. That was seven years ago. She still doesn't know the answer.
Name
Karen McKevitt
Introduce yourself in one sentence
Aisle lurker; wait, that's not a sentence.
Age and Occupation
31, editor and writer.
Home Town
San Jose, California. Well, not really. I was born in Southern California but my family moved to San Jose when I was two. I don't remember anything about SoCal except for shag carpet.
How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where?
I lived in San Jose until I went to college, which was Chico State. After a year, I booked it to SF, where I lived for a year at the Casa Dolores complex before moving to the Outer Sunset about 10 years ago. Why the Outer Sunset? I live across the street from the ocean, and rent control has pretty much dictated that I'm stuck there.
Favorite website
Is this where I'm supposed to answer SFist.com?
Favorite local business
TheatreBayArea.org.
What I'm currently Reading
Lots of magazines. It's an obsession, really.
Best Deal in San Francisco
Tix Bay Area, the half-price ticket booth at Union Square.
Favorite mode of transportation
My car. Sorry. Did I say I live in the Outer Sunset?
Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area
My local music knowledge sucks.
Favorite local hangout
Ocean Beach.
SF has the BEST:
Fog.
You've never lived in SF until:
You've lived here.
Favorite Bay area politician of past or present:
Gavin.
Now that Mayor Gavin is single, who are you going to set him up with?
Uh, my sister?
You can tell someone is a local here IF:
They aren't wearing a San Francisco sweatshirt and cargo shorts in late July.
SF would be soooo much better if only
: It were warmer. And cheaper.
Best Burrito:
Is there such a thing?
Best Restaurant:
Fior d'Italia.
Best movie scene filmed in or about SF:
I'd have to go with Harold & Maude.
I want all the SFists out there to know:
That local theater is really rad. Really. Check it out sometime.
You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
Go to Tix Bay Area to get a half-price ticket to Exit Theatre or SF Playhouse or any theater around Union Square, and then see the play.