Kate Whoriskey (born 1970)
by Misha Berson, Seattle Times, September 4, 2010 is a freelance theatre director.

Personal life

Whoriskey grew up in

Acton, Massachusetts Acton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, approximately west-northwest of Boston along Massachusetts Route 2 west of Concord and about southwest of Lowell. The population was 24,021 in April 2020, according to the Unite ...

. She majored in theater at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(Experimental Theater Wing) (graduating in 1992) and in 1998 she completed a post-graduate program in directing from the

American Repertory Theater The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

's (A.R.T.) Institute for Advanced Theater Training at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Whoriskey is married to actor

Daniel Breaker Daniel Breaker (born June 2, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Donkey in ''Shrek The Musical''. Career Beginning his career in 2002, immediately after graduating from Juilliard, Breaker has performed in Off-Br ...

who has played

Donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

Shrek the Musical ''Shrek The Musical'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film ''Shrek'', along with elements of its sequels: '' Shrek 2'', ''Shrek Forever After'' ...

on Broadway. Whoriskey and Breaker have a son, named Rory, born in 2008.

Professional career

After completing her graduate program at ART, she immediately worked on directing a play there, ''

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' ( no, Bygmester Solness) is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published ...

'' by Ibsen.Tom Sellar
"Watching Kate Whoriskey"
, profile American Theatre magazine, July/August 2001, Theatre Communications Group. She has been a visiting lecturer at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

and an associate artist at

South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory (SCR) is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California. Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson, is led by Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Direc ...

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. She was briefly associated with

Intiman Theatre Intiman Theatre Festival in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 as a resident theatre by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater.

in Seattle, in 2010 to 2011, prior to its closure due to cash flow problems.

Directing credits

A partial list of Whoriskey's directing credits is in the table below. Sources: Internet Off-Broadway Database Internet Broadway Database American Theatre Wing

Other work

Other theatres where she has directed include: * Theatre for a New Audience (New York), ''Oroonoko'', 2008 *

Center Stage (theater) Center Stage is the state theater of Maryland, and Baltimore's largest professional producing theater. Center Stage began in a converted gymnasium in 1963 as a full arena theatre that seated 240 people. Today, Center Stage houses two performing ...

(Baltimore, MD) (2003) * Perseverance Theatre (Alaska) (2000) * Actors Theatre of Louisville * Sundance Theatre Lab at the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers f ...

, (Park City, UT), 2005 * Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, (Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY) (2006)"Press Release. Bard Summerscape. 'Camille'"
bard.edu, July 6, 2006 * The

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. It is commonly referred to as The O'Neill. The center has received two Tony Awards, the 1979 Special Awa ...

(Waterford, CT) *

Geva Theatre Center Geva Theatre Center is a regional, not-for-profit, professional theatre company based in Rochester, New York. It is housed in an 1868 building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, located in Rochester at 75 Woodbury Boulevard. The C ...

(Rochester, NY). In her career, she has also worked with writers

Nilo Cruz Nilo Cruz is a Cuban-American playwright and pedagogue. With his award of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' Anna in the Tropics'', he became the second Latino so honored, after Nicholas Dante. Biography Early years Cruz was bor ...

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...

, and Saïd Sayrafiezadeh.

References

External links

Intiman Theater website

South Coast Repertory website

Charlie Rose interview
(about production of Ruined), July 14, 2009, 12 minute video {{DEFAULTSORT:Whoriskey, Kate 1970 births Living people People from Acton, Massachusetts Tisch School of the Arts alumni Institute for Advanced Theater Training, Harvard University alumni Princeton University faculty American theatre directors Women theatre directors Artistic directors