About — Kathy Gail MacGowan

Kathy has received many accolades for her directing work. She has successfully helped to shape and usher new work to the stage with intensity, precision and imagination, leading to the production of 15 premieres by New York playwrights. 2023 has been a particularly fruitful and creative year. In April she directed the New York premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s “Emilie: La Marquise du Chatalet Defends Her Life Tonight” at The Flea theater (Click Here: Broadwayworld.com). in June she directed Sharyn Rothstein’s searing drama about the internet “The Right to be Forgotten” (Click Here: Broadwayworld.com ) with American Theatre Group of NJ, and earlier in the year she adapted and directed “Henry IV, Part 1” with The Stella Adler Conservatory, which went on to tour care facilities, schools and notably Rikers Prison.

Other Highlights of her work include: Kentucky Cantata Paul David Young at Here Arts Center, a "A Best of Off-Broadway" by Critic Howard Miller. In The Summer Pavillion (also by Paul) at 59e59 Street Theater a Backstage Critic’s Pick and Daily News and Village Voice Highlight, Broad Channel by James Bosley with the Up Theater Company, The Golden Year by Daniel Damiano at WorkShop Theater, Rosemary and Time by Jennifer Fell Hayes at the Paradise Theater, Bergen by Steven Fechter at The Broadway Bound Theater Festival, The Battles by Richmond Hill by Penny Jackson, at HERE ARTS.

Kathy loved directing for The Shaw Project -Gingold Group at Symphony Space: What Every Woman Knows by J.M. Barrie and The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby. During Covid she was delighted to create and direct for many Zoom productions including NYSeeing 2020 a benefit featuring new work by Neil LaBute, Cheryl Davis, Crystal Skillman and others, live streamed by Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

Kathy has directed for many NYC festivals and has been highlighted for her work in the NY Fringe, Samuel French, Broadway Bound, Sheen Center and Primary Stages. She regularly works for the NY Ethical Society of Culture, directing and casting plays that challenge audiences and push boundries, most recently “What the Constitution Means to Me” by Heidi Schreck.

Kathy is a devoted guest director at The Stella Adler Conservatory and his worked with both the NYU Tisch BFA students and Conservatory Students. Kathy was delighted when her 2021 production of “The Night Alive” by Conor McPherson was moved to a run at THE CHAIN THEATRE in 2022, playing to sold out audiences. Shows at Adler include: Henry IV, Part 1 (and tour), The Night Alive by Conor McPherson, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, Necessary Targets by Eve Ensler Eastern Standard by Richard Greenberg, Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, Carol Vinegar Tom by Carol Churchill, and Fool for Love, by Sam Shepard.

Kathy received her MFA in Directing from The New School of Drama in 2009. She was a Drama League Directing Finalist and is a member of SDC and AEA. She was a member of the Curator's Circle at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, where she served as a director, curator, and dramaturg and is developing a work on the life of Henri Nouwen.

Having trained and worked as an actor in NYC, Kathy brings a wealth of knowledge regarding the actor’s process along with a knack for literary interpretation, and a keen eye toward wedding the visual look of the production to the journey of the play. She hopes to continue her work in New York and regional theater creating exciting, artful, and truthful interpretations of both New Works and The Classics.

Please visit the PRODUCTIONS tab to see my work and reviews, and UPCOMING to see what's next!

Thanks for visiting my site!

Kathy