Kate Whoriskey was the artistic director

Artistic director

An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

 of the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, USA, for a year, departing in April, 2011 after the theater's board cancelled the remainder of the 2011 season due to financial problems. Whoriskey had been co-Artistic Director of Intiman along with Bartlett Sher

Bartlett Sher

Bartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...

 who had been the Artistic Director at Intiman for a decade. Sher had asked Whoriskey to direct a play at Intiman in his first season there and he nominated Whoriskey to succeed him at Intiman. The plan was originally for Sher and Whoriskey to serve as co-artistic directors in 2010 and then in 2011, after the transition year, Whoriskey would become sole Artistic Director. The transition was accelerated and effected as of March, 2010.

Personal life

Whoriskey was born in 1970. She grew up in Acton, Massachusetts

Acton, Massachusetts

Acton is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States about twenty-one miles west-northwest of Boston along Route 2 west of Concord and about ten miles southwest of Lowell. The population was 21,924 at the 2010 census...

. Her father later died and left a family of six children. She majored in theater at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

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

American Repertory Theatre

The American Repertory Theater is a professional not-for-profit theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to neglected works of the past; and to established classical texts...

 ("ART") Institute for Advanced Theatre Training

Institute for Advanced Theatre Training

The A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University was established in 1987 by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The Institute is a training ground for the professional American theater. In 1998, the A.R.T...

 at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. Whoriskey is married to actor Daniel Breaker

Daniel Breaker

-Life and career:Born in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of a career military officer, Breaker grew up partly in Germany and attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Florida. He then earned a BFA degree from the Juilliard School in 2002...

 who has played Donkey

Donkey (Shrek)

Donkey is a fictional talking donkey from the Shrek series of films and he serves as the deuteragonist of the films, voiced by Eddie Murphy. The character has also featured in the original story Shrek!...

 in Shrek the Musical 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, Master Builder

Master Builder

Master Builder can refer to:* Master builder, also "master mason", a central figure leading construction projects in pre-modern times .* The Master Builder, a play by Henrik Ibsen....

by Ibsen. While directing this play she first met Bart Sher, because his wife, Kristin Flanders, was in the cast. Sher recalled the play as "really extraordinary, a wonderful production". She subsequently directed plays at regional theaters across the United States, including Intiman. She was appointed an associate director at La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. -Background:...

 in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. She has been a visiting lecturer at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 
and an associate artist at South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory

South Coast Repertory 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 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...

 in Orange County

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Directing credits

A partial list of Whoriskey's directing credits is in the table below. (Table can be sorted by clicking on box at top of each column).

Play	Author	Theater	Year and Notes
Ruined Ruined (play) Ruined is a play by Lynn Nottage. The play won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.The play involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.-Production history:...	Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African Americans and women. She was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius...	Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...  and Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...	2008
Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine -Production history:Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, running from June 3, 2004 June 13 through July 11...	Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African Americans and women. She was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius...	Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....	2004 (world premiere)
Intimate Apparel Intimate Apparel Intimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is a co-production and co-commission between Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California....	Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African Americans and women. She was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius...	South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory 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 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...	2003 (world premiere)
The Piano Teacher	Julia Cho Julia Cho Julia Cho is an American playwright and television writer who has won national awards for her work.-Biographical information:Cho was born in Los Angeles and is the daughter of Korean immigrants. Her mother is a nurse and her father worked for an aerospace company where his job relocation led the...	Vineyard Theatre Vineyard Theatre The Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981...	2007 (world premiere)
Last Tree in Antarctica	Julia Cho Julia Cho Julia Cho is an American playwright and television writer who has won national awards for her work.-Biographical information:Cho was born in Los Angeles and is the daughter of Korean immigrants. Her mother is a nurse and her father worked for an aerospace company where his job relocation led the...	Ensemble Studio Theatre Ensemble Studio Theatre The Ensemble Studio Theatre is a membership-based, developmental theatre located in New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays.-Overview:...	2007
Massacre	Jose Rivera (playwright) José Rivera (playwright) José Rivera is a playwright and the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Oscar.-Early years:Rivera was born in the Santurce section of San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1955. He was raised in Arecibo where he lived until 1959. Rivera's family migrated from Puerto Rico when he was 4 years...	LAByrinth Theater Company LAByrinth Theater Company LAByrinth Theater Company is a non-profit, Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City.An inclusive, multicultural ensemble of almost 100 established and emerging theater artists led by Artistic Directors Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O'Donnell and Yul Vasquez, LAByrinth Theater Company...	2005 (world premiere)
The Tempest	William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...	Shakespeare Theatre Company Shakespeare Theatre Company The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. Their self professed mission "is to present classic theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their...	2005
Vigils	Noah Haidle	Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...	2006 (world premiere)
The Rose Tattoo The Rose Tattoo - External links :*...	Tennessee Williams Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...	Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...	2002
Heartbreak House Heartbreak House Heartbreak House is a play written by George Bernard Shaw, first published in 1919 and first played at the Garrick Theatre in 1920. According to A. C. Ward, the work argues that "cultured, leisured Europe" was drifting toward destruction, and that "Those in a position to guide Europe to safety...	George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...	Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...	2003-2004 season
The Master Builder The Master Builder The Master Builder is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and revealing works.-Performance:...	Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...	American Repertory Theatre American Repertory Theatre The American Repertory Theater is a professional not-for-profit theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to neglected works of the past; and to established classical texts...  (ART)	1999
Blue/Orange BLUE/ORANGE Blue/Orange is a play by written by English dramatist, Joe Penhall. A sardonically comic piece which touches on race, mental illness, and 21st century British life, it premiered at the Cottesloe Theatre in April 2000, starring Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln and Chiwetel Ejiofor...	Joe Penhall Joe Penhall Joe Penhall is a British playwright and screenwriter.Born in London, his first major play was Some Voices for the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1994, which won the John Whiting Award. It has twice been revived off Broadway...	Intiman Theatre	2003
Lady from the Sea	Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...	Intiman Theatre	2001
Inked Baby	Christina Anderson	Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....	2009
The Chairs	Eugene Ionesco Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...	Intiman Theatre	2000
Drowning Crow	Regina Taylor Regina Taylor Regina Taylor is an American actress and playwright. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award.-Biography:...	Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...	2001-2002 season (world premiere)
Life Is a Dream	Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...	South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory 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 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...	2007
Caucasian Chalk Circle	Bertolt Brecht Bertolt Brecht Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...	South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory 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 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...	2005
Antigone Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...	Sophocles Sophocles Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...	South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory 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 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...	2003-2004 season
The Clean House The Clean House The Clean House is a play by Sarah Ruhl, which premiered in 2004 at Yale Repertory Theatre and has since been produced in many American cities. The play is a whimsical romantic comedy centered on Matilde, a Brazilian cleaning woman who would rather be a comedian.-Plot summary:The play opens with...	Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...	South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory 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 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...	2005
The Miracle Worker The Miracle Worker The Miracle Worker is a cycle of 20th century dramatic works derived from Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life. Each of the various dramas describes the relationship between Keller—a deafblind and initially almost feral child—and Anne Sullivan, the teacher who introduced her to...	William Gibson (playwright) William Gibson (playwright) William Gibson was an American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.He was of Irish, French, German, Dutch and Russian ancestry...	Circle in the Square Theatre Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre in midtown Manhattan on 50th Street in the Paramount Plaza building.The original Circle in the Square was founded by Paul Libin, Theodore Mann and Jose Quintero in 1951 and was located at 5 Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village...	2010 - Opening: Mar. 3.
Ruined Ruined (play) Ruined is a play by Lynn Nottage. The play won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.The play involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.-Production history:...	Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African Americans and women. She was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius...	Intiman Theatre	2010
How I Learned to Drive How I Learned To Drive How I Learned to Drive is a play written by American playwright Paula Vogel. The play premiered on March 16, 1997 off-broadway at the Vineyard Theatre...	Paula Vogel Paula Vogel Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.-Early years:...	Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...	2012

Other work

Other theatres where she has directed include:

• Theatre for a New Audience (New York)
• Center Stage (theater)
  Center Stage (theater)
  Center Stage is the state theater of Maryland and Baltimore's largest professional producing theater. Center Stage was founded in 1963 as a regional playhouse....
  
   (Baltimore, MD)
• Perseverance Theatre
  Perseverance Theatre
  Perseverance Theatre is a professional theater company located on Douglas Island in Juneau, Alaska. It is Alaska's only professional theater and is particularly dedicated to developing and working with Alaskan artists and to producing plays celebrating Alaskan culture, history, and...
  
   (Alaska)
• Actors Theatre of Louisville
  Actors Theatre of Louisville
  Actors Theatre of Louisville is a performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1964 by Louisville native Ewel Cornett, local producer Richard Block and actor Ken Jenkins of Scrubs fame, and was designated the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974. It is run as a...
  
  
• Sundance Theatre Lab at the Sundance Institute
  Sundance Institute
  Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
  
  , (Park City, UT)
• Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
  Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
  The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a performance hall located in New York's Hudson Valley. The center provides audiences with performances and programs in orchestral, chamber, and jazz music and theater, dance, and opera by American and international artists...
  
  , (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY)
• The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
  Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
  The Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut is a 501 not-for-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. The O'Neill is the recipient of the . The O'Neill is home to the National Theater Institute , and several major theater conferences including the...
  
   (Waterford, CT)
• Geva Theatre Center
  Geva Theatre Center
  Geva Theatre Center is Rochester's leading professional theatre, operating in the Naval Armory-Convention Hall. It is the birthplace of many new and popular works such as Gregg Coffin's Convenience and Five Course Love. Geva is an abbreviation of Genesee Valley Arts Foundation...
  
   (Rochester, NY).

In her career, she has also worked with writers Nilo Cruz

Nilo Cruz

Nilo Cruz is an 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 first Latino so honored.-Early years:...

, Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje

Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...

, and Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is an American playwright and author living in New York City. He won a 2010 Whiting Writers' Award.-Background:...

.

External links

• Intiman Theater website
• South Coast Repertory website
• Charlie Rose interview (about production of Ruined), July 14, 2009, 12 minute video