Kate is a Canadian actor, musical theatre performer, playwright, teaching artist, and director with an incredibly wide-ranging expertise and extraordinary level of achievement in all aspects of her theatrical vocation.
“Hennig is one of the greatest stage actors of her generation” - Gypsy review – J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail 2023
Acting
Kate has 42 years of professional experience as an actor, from her humble beginnings as Kalfang the Destroyer in The Incredible Magical Delfodil (Huron Country Playhouse, 1981) to Momma Rose in Gypsy (Shaw Festival, 2023). The intervening years include seasons on Broadway (2009-10), with the Royal Shakespeare Company (2007), and multiple seasons with both the Shaw and Stratford festivals. She has played leading roles in regional theatres across Canada, and been at the heart of the creation of new work with many independent theatre companies. She has received multiple acting awards including two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, three Betty Mitchell Awards, and a Toronto Theatre Critics Award. In 2015 she received the Christopher Plummer Foundation Award for Excellence, sponsored by the Shakespeare Globe Centre of Canada.
“…creating an outstanding work of theatre from one of the most compelling family dramas of western history” - Jack Teiwes, The Last Wife review – Australian Stage 2019
Playwriting
Kate’s playwriting includes The Last Wife, The Virgin Trial, and Mother’s Daughter all of which premiered at the Stratford Festival and went on to subsequent productions at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. The series is published by Playwrights’ Canada Press. The Virgin Trial won the Carol Bolt Award for Best New Play 2017, and was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama in the same year. Kate translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac (Playwrights’ Canada Press) for the Shaw Festival in 2019, and for its return engagement in 2021. Kate also adapted Oscar Wilde’s stories for children, Wilde Tales for the Shaw Festival in 2017. Kate’s plays have had over 30 productions: across Canada from Victoria to Halifax, Calgary to Ottawa; in the U.S. from Chicago to San Diego, Los Angeles to Houston; and as far away as Sydney, Australia and Glasgow, Scotland. The Last Wife received a one-week workshop with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in the UK in 2019. It is currently being translated into French by Governor General’s Award winning translator, Maryse Warda.
“Kate … nourished my interest, fostered my talent and gave me the confidence to move forward.. she instantly, almost magically, helped me discover my writer’s voice” – Jessica B Hill, actor/playwright 2023
Teaching
Kate has an MA (with Distinction) in Voice Studies from the Central School of Speech and Drama, and has taught voice and acting for the Birmingham Conservatory (Stratford Festival) and for the Slaight Family Academy (Shaw Festival), of which she was the Director from 2017-21. She has taught extensively at the National Theatre School, and as a guest teacher at Sheridan College, the University of Toronto, and McGill University. She has led workshops for the Shakespeare Association of America, for Magnetic North Theatre Festival, for Shakespeare in the Ruff, for Theatre Calgary, and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Kate is most proud of the mentorship she provides many of her students and colleagues, and of the ongoing relationships she fosters through their developing careers.
“Is there anything that Kate Hennig cannot do?” – White Christmas review – Paula Citron, LudwigVan, 2021
Directing
Kate recently realized a long-time goal when she directed the hit production of Holiday Inn for the Shaw winter season in 2019 and the popular remount in 2021. She directed the widely acclaimed White Christmas for the winter season in 2022, which provided a welcome respite from the pandemic, and played to consistently sold out houses.
“I admire Kate’s ability to lead with groundedness, empathy, curiosity, intuition, and fearlessness, with a keen willingness to challenge the conventional ways of doing things.” – Michelle Mohammed, actor/director 2024
Leading
Kate has served as a National Councillor and a Regional Advisory Councillor for Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. She has given of her time on actors advocacy committees at the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has served on granting juries for the Ontario Arts Council, and as a peer assessor for the Canada Council.
Kate was the Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival (2017-20).
Kate was the Director of Artist Development for the Shaw Festival (2020-21).
Kate lives and writes in the beautiful town of Stratford, Ontario in Canada.
