Kate Kirschner is the Associate Artistic Director of the Women’s Project Theater. Prior to this role, she was a freelance director in New York City and around the United States, most recently from the Public Theater where she worked as the assistant to the Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis. Just before beginning at the Public, she served as Associate Director on the Broadway revival of Godspell.
Classic Broadway musicals notwithstanding, Kate’s deepest passion lies in the development of new plays. In that pursuit she has directed world premieres at Ars Nova, NYMF, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Hangar Theater, Prospect Theater, NYU, F*It Club, and many more. She has had the pleasure of collaborating with writers such as Ashlin Halfnight, Joshua Harmon, Daniel Hartley, Kyle Jarrow, Nathan Leigh, Sharyn Rothstein, and Rachel Bonds. She has served as a visiting instructor at Middlebury College, Carnegie Mellon University, and The Studio/NY. As an assistant director, Kate has worked with Bill Rauch, Scott Ellis, Gregory Mosher, Jo Bonney, Will Frears, and Daniel Goldstein. She also assisted Sarah Ruhl on John Doyle’s staging of Ruhl’s original adaptation of Three Sisters as well as the Broadway premiere of In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play). Kate has workshopped plays at EST/Youngblood, PTP/Atlantic 2, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Boomerang Theatre Company, and the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre.
She is a Drama League Directing Fellow, received her BA from Middlebury College, and completed her MFA in directing at Carnegie Mellon University.