Kate Smith

Kate Smith (she/her) is an award-winning theatre creator, director and performer. She is the Artistic Director of a Company of Fools, Ottawa's longest-running professional Shakespeare company. Kate holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Ottawa, and a BA (Honours) in Theatre from Dalhousie University, where she trained as an actor and singer. As the former Artistic Director of Skeleton Key Theatre, Kate was involved in 7 world premieres. At the helm of several high-profile projects for Skeleton Key, in 2021 Kate's "rock concert on rising seas" Deluge (co-created with Scottie Irving) was notably selected as one of only 14 acts from across the country for the Grand Acts of Theatre presented by the National Arts Centre's English Theatre. In 2018 her innovative immersive play Swan River was nominated for a Prix Rideau Award for Best New Creation, receiving two productions that year and later being adapted into a 4-episode podcast for families (Swan River: The Podcast). Kate has performed and directed on stages across the country, and specializes in devised theatre, new musical creation (Marian, Deluge, Swan River, HOOTENANNY!), and creating work in non-traditional spaces. She is an experienced workshop facilitator who has worked with students and adults in various theatre schools and community settings over the past 20 years. Kate is a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.