Kati
Schwartz
Playwright & Actor
(And aerialist)
"Kati Schwartz delivers a warm and nuanced performance as Sylvia."
New Orleans Gambit
(Tribes - Le Petit Theatre)
"The rest of the absurdly talented cast of actors (and erstwhile soccer players) includes Kati Schwartz, who I was lucky enough to see cover the role of Goalkeeper #00."
Broadway World
(The Wolves - Studio Theatre)
"...Sylvia, played with conviction by Kati Schwartz."
Theatre Criticism
(Tribes - Le Petit Theatre)
About Me
Kati Schwartz is an award winning playwright and actor. Her #metoo story, Bad People, is currently available as an audio play on Audible, and was nominated for a 2024 Webby Award (best writing). Her play, The Coward, won the 2017 New York New Works Festival, and was a finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2017. Her play She Got Off The Couch premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2016 where it received the Producers Encore Award and was extended twice. Other plays, including The Whale Play and Caring for The Dead have been produced Off Broadway (The Duke Theater), as well as at theaters such as Dixon Place, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Arena Stage (DC), Ugly Rhino Theatre Company, Next Stage Arts Project and Alchemical Theatre Lab. Excerpts of The Coward have been published by Smith and Kraus in December 2017 as a part of their Best Stage Monologues collections. She can be seen in season 5 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and in Gary Walko's feature, Lars Shrike Walks The Night (to be released in 2025) where she stars opposite Kelsey Grammer. Theater credits includeThe Wolves (Studio Theatre - Helen Hayes Award), Indecent (Next Stage Arts), August: Osage County (The Fulton Theatre), Tribes (Le Petit Theatre). Robin Hood (Williamstown), Leah: The Forsaken (Metropolitan Playhouse). She has trained with world renowned teachers such as Patsy Rodenberg, Christopher Bayes and Judy Kuhn. She's gone through the advanced study improv program at UCB, and has studied and performed sketch comedy and improv at UCB (New York and Los Angeles), Second City, and The Groundlings.
Videos
Photos
Plays
All works are available to read on New Play Exchange
Listen to Bad People by Kati Schwartz on Audible
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The Coward (Cast: 6)
The Coward is the story of Jill and Christopher, two young people with conflicting ideals who are forced to live in close quarters at a summer stock theater. The play opens on Jill brandishing a wand and wondering aloud if she might have magical abilities. She is soon introduced to Christopher, who is quick to criticize her and heighten himself at the expense of others. Not long after, in a game of Would You Rather, the topic of sexual identity surfaces. Jill confides that she is “unsure if she is straight or gay,” and it is revealed that Christopher is deeply religious. As the line between reality and the fantastical blurs, conflict ensues and those around them are faced with whether to step in or step to the side. Central to The Coward are the matters of internal homophobia, the ability to forgive oneself and others, and the necessity of speaking up for those in need rather than standing by.
We in the audience are left to decide: what does it mean to be a coward, and which of these characters fits that title?
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Caring For The Dead (Cast: 5)
In the wake of her father's attempted suicide, the sarcastic and rebellious Georgie develops an unexpected attachment to a newly successful, self-proclaimed rockstar. During heightened moments, the play ascends to a rock concert experience performed by an onstage band. Featuring original music by NYC-based alternative rock band For You The Moon, Caring For The Dead is a unique exploration into the definition of ‘family' and what we're willing to sacrifice for it.
Bad People (Cast: varies)
Bad People is a hilarious and poignant window into the mind of a grief-stricken young woman. Using dry humor, unabashed nerdism, and cartoon dinosaurs, playwright Kati Schwartz tells her Me Too story, giving an intimate glimpse into vulnerability and complicity, and then into the harrowing processes of healing and self-acceptance.
Bad People was originally conceived as an audio drama, but can be performed on stage as well.
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The Whale Play (Cast: 5)
Shortly after the 2017 election, De Salle, a life long resident of Maine, goes to the beach for the first time, where he uncovers something miraculous and sets out to share his discovery with the world.
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She Got Off The Couch (Cast: 5)
The line between reality and the fantastical is blurred in this comic story of a young lesbian whose family begins to fray when she tries to be frank with them about her sexual coming of age. Homophobia is not the family’s problem. It’s the prospect of candid conversation that throws them bizarrely off balance. She Got Off the Couch shines a light of gentle hilarity on what Schwartz considers an almost universal coming-of-age experience: realizing that you and everyone else in your family might mostly kindly be described as ‘emotionally hobbled.’
