Some people call her Sonoma’s Robin Williams. Like Williams, she is a splendid actor who is quick on her feet, jumping in and out of various accents, full of wild adventures and crazy stories. She is witty and tremendously funny. But despite these parallels, there is no-one quite like Kate Kennedy.
Kate came to Sonoma just over 30 years ago and has since made a name for herself as the Valley’s leading Shakespearean. Not only does she act and directs a theater troupe and a Shakespeare company, she runs a performance art camp with Diana Rhoten of the Sebastiani Theater and teaches theater at many schools in the valley.
Kate Kennedy with her players at Buena Vista Winery
Her performances uniquely integrate the magic of Shakespeare with the magic of wine country, performing at Buena Vista and Gundlach Bundschu Wineries.
Kate's style is “classical, but also very improvisational” — which isn’t always popular with traditional Shakespeare lovers.
“Some people are very strict and they say things like, ‘Did you really have to add that Bruno Mars dance in the middle of Romeo and Juliet?’” She shrugs, “Yeah. If you don’t like it, you know, it’s only 35 bucks!”
Yet Kate isn’t flippant about how she adapts 16th century literature for the 21st century. To her, theater is as much interactive as it is performative. Part of showing Shakespeare to modern audiences is using modern references.
Besides occasionally featuring pop music, her shows have actors step into the crowd to chat with audience members who usually enjoy picnics on the grass rather than sit stiffly upright in a stuffy theater.
At the same time, actors are encouraged to live in the moment – to improvise. This was especially evident in Lake Tahoe where Kate put on a play at the beach.
“I mean, it was dazzling — the lake is behind us and the mountains are all around and the moon was coming up — the audience couldn’t take their eyes off it! So finally I stopped and said, ‘That is one helluva moon! Let’s give it a standing ovation.’ The audience stood up, they cheered, and we went on with the play.”
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Kate has built a loyal following around this unique style, yet even while taking bold creative license, she deeply values the words on the page.
“What I tell [the actors] is ‘I want you to be spontaneous,’ but it’s like a great painting; Once you get it down, then you can go off and be a Picasso.”
"Getting it down" means not only memorizing, but comprehending what is being said. Of her many lessons, Kate emphasizes truly understanding the text.
“I call it ‘Translating into English.’”
In “As You Like It,” there is a famous speech relating the seven stages of man with a line: “Then a soldier… bearded like the pard”. But what is a pard?
“This soldier going off to war is 17 or 18, he’s so young his beard hasn’t even come in yet — it’s spotted like a leopard.”
It’s a creative and surprising metaphor that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
Once actors can truly grasp the text, line by line, then they can dive off script, often creating beautiful and unforgettable moments like those at Lake Tahoe.
It’s a lesson Kate would like to teach everyone. When asked what the requirements are for joining her theater company, she responded, “Do you have blood pumping through your veins? A heartbeat? Then I think I can work with you.”
In full regalia
This flexibility is a far cry from the strict Benedictine boarding school in Minneapolis where she spent her early childhood. Still, improvising was always a part of her life, even off-stage. As one of 9 children, Kate learned independence fairly quickly.
“We all kind of took care of ourselves, we were like feral cats. Dinner was 365 different ways to make hamburger.”
Having mastered the theater of every day life, she decided to go on tour as an actor. She traveled all across Canada and the Eastern United States, each stop with its own funny story.
During one performance in a park, “a train came through and all the actors looked at each other,” and, caught in a moment of spontaneity, “we just stopped the play and jumped on the train!”
With many performances and even more adventures under her belt, she finally made it to Sonoma where she has left an indelible mark.
“I never had delusions of grandeur or stardom” she says. And yet in Sonoma, she’s as well known as anyone.
She takes me out to her studio where she keeps many of her favorite props and memorabilia. The small space features a donkey head (Bottom, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream), several posters, and a gigantic plaster bust.
“This one is from our tour in Edinburgh, the Fringe Festival.” She says, pointing to the bust. As if the play weren’t enough theater, “we would run our lines in this graveyard. We had the time of our lives.”
Her audiences often say the same thing. Kate is famous in town for making theater –Shakespeare especially – accessible to all audiences, using her talent for adaptation and her fun demeanor to enliven every performance.
“People come and would go ‘I hate Shakespeare, but I love the way you do it.’”
Having already done so much, I ask her what she is most proud of.
“Listen I have had a great life. I’ve always had many other jobs to support my habit. You know, I drive a 16 year old car and I couldn’t care less.”
“I’m proud of all my students. I love being a teacher, I love my troupe, I love my Shakespeare company.”
Kate with some of her students
And they love her back. Kate's players and audiences come back again and again to see what she comes up with next, and she keeps giving them an amazing show.
“Make a great life for yourself,” she says, reflecting on success “Just make it happen.”
It takes courage to follow your passion, but it takes a special kind of charisma to be so loved for doing it.
At the end of our interview, Kate asks, “Are you having fun yet?”
With someone like Kate Kennedy, the answer is certainly yes.