Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Thorvick.
Hi Kate, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story begins when I was only 2 years old, still in diapers. My grandma, Eileen, and my mother, Charlene, were walking by a dance studio and saw it as the perfect solution for a shy, wiggly toddler. I have always been close to my mom, even to this day, and until my grandmother passed in 2007, they were both front row at every dance competition, parade, performance, award ceremony and recital through my childhood. My father, Tom, is the smartest person I know. He is a sponge for truth and enjoys expanding his understanding of the world. Through my fascination with his mind, this is how I have found my sense of curiosity, and it comes with a great set of problem-solving skills. Tom was born to be an engineer and excelled in mathematics throughout his upbringing. While getting the opportunity to work with extremely influential companies during the dawn of cell phones and electronics, he developed his passion for off-road vehicles and started a racing team with my older brother, Ben, as his co-driver. For these many reasons, I am so grateful for my family. I was given the language of dance to express myself. And I was exposed to the fast-paced environment of pit crew for my family’s racing team.
Though dance was my first love as an artist, I very vividly remember the beginning of my interest in theatre. My friend Denise Neumerkel, from dance class, had invited me to see her in a local community production of “Annie.” Sitting there watching young girls just like myself tap and sing and act on the stage planted the seed for my artistic voice to blossom. I immediately signed up for auditions for their next show, “Beauty and the Beast,” which became my musical theatre debut. Show after show, I grew into dance captain, assistant choreographer, assistant director, featured dancer, and sometimes featured roles. But dance was always my strong suit.
Throughout my life, I’ve always had a strong passion for animal care and studying animal behavior. I always thought I’d have to end up choosing a “real” career path, not anything in the arts. When people asked me, I would say I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. It wasn’t until I performed on the Lyceum Stage with union actors and shared a wall San Diego Repertory Theatre (which is the first professional company I ended up working for), that I realized theatre was a legitimate career choice for me to make. This is when the fiery need to make it to the top began. I became obsessed with everything New York, Broadway, Sutton Foster, Barbara Streisand, etc., and by the time college auditions rolled around, I had my eyes set on NYU. Of course, come spring of 2017 of all the musical theater auditions and academic acceptances and rejection notices came, but I still hadn’t heard back from the one I had been waiting for. The moment came when I was out grocery shopping with my mom. We were at the checkout, and a notification popped up on my phone that it was time to ”log into the portal” and see the results of my application to New York University, my dream school. Wrong password. Forgot password. Reset password. Login. We were loading the groceries into the trunk of my mom’s car when I finally made it into the account and saw the words “Congratulations…” and I SCREAMED, “I GOT IN! NYU! I WAS ACCEPTED!” My mom and I leaped for joy and hugged and cried because we knew this was the end of a long and demanding college application and audition process. It also meant that I was about to move 3,000 miles away from my home and family. When I was deciding which colleges to apply to, I declared a testament to my hometown, “If I don’t leave San Diego for college, I may never leave.” I up and left little ole Poway, “the city in the country” in fall of 2017 and was immersed into the global entertainment hub of New York City.
Diving into a new, BIG city comes with a bit of a culture shock. But I was brave and craving independence. The diversity and open self-expression of the people in NYC showed me that it’s okay to be your true self. It’s at this time of my life that I was exposed to feminism, the LGBT community, economic hardship, incredible art around every corner, eccentric fashion, small businesses, large corporations, public transit, the world was at my fingertips. Getting to attend a wide range of academic classes, New York University created a safe space for me to make mistakes, say the wrong things, and learn how to move forward. Tisch School of the Arts has a very well-rounded Drama department, and I was an attendee of Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. In a big city of choosing your own adventure, this school had a very similar style. We were encouraged to explore all areas of theatre. I took classes in directing, design, acting, dance, movement, voice, devising, playwriting, and eventually stage management. My new interest in directing stemmed from a place of wanting control, wanting to be heard, wanting a sense of ownership like I had never had before. I quickly got on the path to become a project leader and in my second year of school, I developed a philosophical, experimental movement piece called, “Surface Tension”. This was a one woman show, directed by my best friend at the time, Gianna, written and performed by Kate Thorvick. In order to keep moving forward on the “project track” as we called it, I would have to first stage manage a project for the upper-class student’s directing projects. Under the instruction of Carol Fishman, GM of Playwrights Horizons uptown theater on 42nd St, I learned how to stage manage. My first project was a play called “Top Girls” by Carol Churchill. I was the co-stage manager with Siena Yusi. Her and I have found a very similar path in our careers. We are both from California and had started out as dancers. We newly found this passion for artistic leadership in college and together, we discovered that stage management came quite naturally for us as multifaceted, compassionate and artistic individuals. It takes a person who knows theater inside and out to effectively communicate to actors, directors, designers, producers, crew, production staff, and theatre personnel. Today, Siena and I are now both professional Stage Managers. But our interest in directing dominated through the rest of our time in college. I had the opportunity to Assistant Direct the MainStage Tisch production of “12 Angry Men” an environmentally conscious retelling of the iconic play, “12 Angry Men” which we reframed. The story was the same, but the each juror represented an extinct species, and they were deciding the fate of the last human alive. We delved deep into the responsibility the human race must uphold in order for life to thrive on this planet. Jessica Grindstaff, the director, was pregnant with her second child and running a theater company with her husband. I saw myself in her and I wanted what she had, a family and an incredibly successful theatre company.
My plans to direct my own show came to a helm in March of 2020 when the whole world stopped. I was writing a dystopian stage adaptation for an obscure movie from 1950 called “OUTRAGE.” I was interested in this film because it was one of the few that I had found of the time that had been written and directed by a woman. This is shortly after Rachel Chavkin won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical with “Hadestown.” She attended the same college training program I was in, and I was set to follow in her and Jessica’s footsteps. My path to the top was in sight. My sights were set on these strong women directors pushing a company of artists towards the boundaries of possibility onstage. Everything came crashing down with the pandemic. I could no longer keep moving straight forward on my path like I had been. Everything that I had worked towards felt like it was going to waste. My worst fear in life is underutilized potential.
Though the dark time we all went through was absolutely devastating, it brought me back home to San Diego where I’ve been ever since 2021. I’ve pursued a career in professional stage management and have the honor of working with some of the most innovative and inspiring artists in San Diego and the world. Before I went to college, I never thought I’d be able to sustain a career in theatre in SoCal but here I am, pursuing my dreams, helping to produce new plays, musicals, and being a part of something greater than myself. Stage management was not necessarily my point of interest when deciding to professionally pursue theatre, but it is what I am best at and the field I’ve had the most success in. As a multifaceted artist, I plan on continuing to write and produce my own work, direct shows, and even perform. I’ve strived towards these goals my whole life and have invested so much into my career. My education, family, bravery, professionalism, and curiosity have set me up for success and confidence on and offstage.
Kate Thorvick
Stage manager
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve struggled with depression for most of my life. As much as I would be happy to elaborate on this, I work very hard to keep a positive attitude, for sometimes it’s difficult for me to celebrate my success and how far I’ve come. Negativity is infectious. What you pay attention to grows.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I love exploring and expanding my knowledge of art and theatre. Painting was a safe outlet for me during the pandemic, but the stage is my home. Producing and working on new works of theatre is my main purpose in this industry. I’d say my proudest work as a professional stage manager includes the world premiere of “Witnesses,” the musical with CCAE Theatricals. I got to be on the stage management team, work with the best stage crew in San Diego, and control the automated turn table used throughout the show. It was an incredibly collaborative process with Broadway award-winning writers retelling the story of Jewish youth during the Holocaust. Through incredible direction by Jeremy Scott Lapp, our production of that show was an extremely influential piece on the community.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
Staying active, healthy, and mentally stimulated is very important to me. So much that I sometimes forget to take a break.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: KateThorvick
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-thorvick
- Other: Visual Art Instagram @KateThorvickArt
