Manos a la obra
An actor and director, Catherine María "Cat" Rodríguez serves collaboration, community, and lqqks wherever the art takes her and whatever stage it’s in.
Cat’s craft entails bringing discernment to decision-making and Joy to the process. Experiences onstage, behind the scenes, and within organizing communities guide both her theater making and critical writing. In this, she’s attentive to not only what’s being made, but also how as well as through whose bodies and eyes. Cat works from a structural analysis and draws on her skills as a trained facilitator to do so. Black / Latinx feminisms as well as collectivist organizing methods fundamentally inform her arts practice and pathways through the world. She's a "people person" with a politic and a love for the Ridiculous.
Cat works in English and Spanish, talks with her hands, y anda con ganas. A freelance artist, she considers herself a nomad but always names New Orleans and Nicaragua home.
Story Shaper
Story Shaping for Storytellers
fantasma By Benjamine benne
Director & Developmental Dramaturg · 2021 - Present
Offered dramaturgical research & developmental support for new play that explores US/Guatemalan relations, Cold Ware & Reagan-era politricks, political/religious propaganda, generational gaps, myth, memory, and race. Commissioned (Benjamin Benne) by South Coast Repertory. Visiting artists in residency at Duke University.
arthur By Sam Marks, dir. David Cromer
Developmental Dramaturg · Playwrights Horizons · August 2021
Provided developmental feedback & critical analysis on immigration, xenophobia, and race on a new play of the horror genre.
“Work-in-Progress”
Dramaturg · Interdisciplinary Program · Sundance Institute · 2021
Dedicated dramaturg, providing 1:1 critical response and developmental support to six artists representing diverse praxes (from orchestral performance art and TV pilot to immersive VR programming that explores memory and trauma) at various stages of developmental process.
La Comedia of errors bilingual adaptation by Lydia G. Gacia & Bill Rauch Oregon
Adaptation / Translation Dramaturg · Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2019
Offered bilingual developmental and production support for new adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors set at the US-MX border, written/performed in English and Spanish. Production an 18-stop community tour in Oregon.
Alma
Developmental Dramaturg · The Old Globe 2019 · O’Neil National Playwrights Conference 2018
Provided feedback toward major rewrite, not only structurally but also to sharpen the play’s politics related to immigration policies and histories, ethnicity, and race. Winner of National Latinx Playwriting Award (2019) & Blue Ink Playwriting Award (2019).
This American Wife
Devising Dramaturg · 2015 - Present · Collaboration with Michael Breslin (writer-performer) and Patrick Foley (writer-performer)
Offering developmental support for This American Wife, a multi-media theater and dance work that investigates obsession, queerness, performance, and Reality through The Real Housewives series.
New Work / Production Dramaturg · Fake Friends / FourthWall · Summer 2021
New Work / Production Dramaturg · Next Door at NYTW · Summer 2018
New Work / Production Dramaturg · Yale Cabaret · Spring 2017 & Fall 2017
Black Mountain Women [formerly, Daughter of the Hills] with Martha Redbone
New Musical / Developmental Dramaturg · The Public · 2017
Provided developmental dramaturgy to Americana soul singer-songwriter Martha Redbone for new full-length musical commissioned by The Public, during two-week residency at the Kimmel Center through Joe's Pub.
If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka by Tori Sampson
New Play / Production Dramaturg · Carlotta Festival of New Plays · 2017
MAS: MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES BY MILTA ORTIZ
New Play Dramaturg · Latinx Theatre Commons Carnival of New Plays · 2015
FUGA MUNDI BY MAR GÓMEZ GLEZ
New Play Dramaturg · 2013 - 15 · Collaboration with Mar Gómez Glez (playwright) and Jacob Janssen (director)
Dramaturged and collaborated on rewrite, translation of Fuga Mundi by US-based Spanish playwright.
Secured financial support from spain arts & culture in Washington, DC., to establish International Hot Desk Playwright Residency at Center Stage for in-person workshopping.
New Play Dramaturg · Freelance · 2015
Plus, a reading at SPAIN: arts & culture in 2015
KING OF THE YEES · BY LAURen YEE
Developmental Dramaturg · Play Lab at Baltimore Center Stage · 2015
TRASH / LA DANZA CIRCULAR DE MARÍA
Production Dramaturg · Borderlands & El Círculo Teatral (México) · 2013-14
Performer
On the Stage
Circle Jerk
Fake Friends & The Connelly Theater, 2022 · Fake Friends & Jeremy O.Harris (digital), 2020 · Fake Friends (stage) · 2019
CHARLES LUDLAM’S CAMILLE: A TRAVESTY ON LA DAME AUX CAMÉLIAS BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS FILS
“Gaston Roué.”
Dir. Molly Fitzmaurice and Michael Breslin · Yale Cabaret · 2018
MAKER
Collaboration for Generation
The two kids that blow shit up
Director · The Jar · 2021
THIS AMERICAN WIFE
Co-Production Dramaturg & Performer · 2015-Present · Collaboration with Michael Breslin & Patrick Foley (writer-performers)
Offering developmental support for This American Wife, a multi-media theater and dance work that investigates obsession, queerness, performance, and Reality through The Real Housewives series.
New Work / Production Dramaturg · Next Door at NYTW · Summer 2018
New Work / Production Dramaturg · Yale Cabaret · Spring 2017 & Fall 2017
CHARLES LUDLAM’S CAMILLE: A TRAVESTY ON LA DAME AUX CAMÉLIAS BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS FILS
Production Dramaturg · Yale Cabaret · 2018
Dir. Molly Fitzmaurice wit Michael Breslin
FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3
Production Dramaturg · Yale Repertory Theatre & American Conservatory Theater · 2018
Dir. Liz Diamond
IF PRETTY HURTS UGLY MUST BE A MUHFUCKA
New Play / Production Dramaturg · Carlotta Festival of New Plays · 2017
Dir. Beth Dinkova
AND TELL SAD STORIES OF THE DEATH OF QUEENS…
Production Dramaturg · Yale Cabaret · 2016
Dir. Rory Pelsue
Culture Shaker
Community Organizing & Facilitation
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY COORDINATOR
Mobile Unit National · The Public · August 2018—Present
Coordinated programming tailor-made with and for the 18 Midwestern communities visited during the Public’s tour of Sweat, the first-ever Mobile Unit National project. Worked with Midwestern leaders to organize events before, during, and after the performance that centered local issues and united neighbors around their shared experiences of the play and in their region.
CO-ORGANIZER
#WikiTurgy · Everywhere there’s internet · Winter 2015
Co-organized and co-led the development and launch of #WikiTurgy, a national online Edit-A-Thon to augment parity and inclusion in Wikipedia's theater coverage.
FESTIVAL DRAMATURG
LTC Carnaval of New Latinx Work · Latinx Theatre Commons Carnaval · DePaul University · Summer 2015
Dramaturged six new plays for showcase readings as part of national festival for industry professionals.
HOST DRAMATURG & FACILITATOR
The Dramaturgy Open Office Hours Project · Baltimore/DC/Twitter · 2014-15
Produced, hosted, and documented free weekly office hours online and in-person, featuring guest dramaturgs in the spirit of open access as well as dialogue across disciplines and communities.
COORDINATOR
Wright-Right-Now · Baltimore Center Stage · 2013-15
Produced new play series in which the general public commissioned local playwrights for instant and customized one-minute plays through Center Stage.
Extended series from pre-show lobby to special events and public spaces.
VOLUNTEER
Education-Based Latino Outreach (EBLO) & Weinberg Housing and Resource Center · 2013-15
Co-led weekly theater workshops and activities for Baltimore Latinx youth ages 8-18 at EBLO, culminating in biannual community performances.
Led biweekly classes on improvisation and effective communication for Baltimore homeless at Weinberg.
FESTIVAL DRAMATURG
Borderlands & El Círculo Teatral (México) · 2013-14
Facilitated Un Encuentro: Theater of the Borderlands, a transnational festival between Tucson, AZ, and México, D.F.
Provided new play and production dramaturgy for two world premiere works by US and Mexican playwrights.
Education
Yale School of Drama
M.F.A. Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism
May 2018
artEquity
Facilitator Training · 2016
Beyond Diversity: Equity & Inclusion · 2015
Carnegie Mellon University
B.F.A. Dramaturgy with University & College Honors · December 2012
B.A. Hispanic Studies with University Honors · December 2012
Skills
Quick with the clapback, bilingual speaker and translator (English, Spanish)
Generative/devising dramaturgy, new play development, production dramaturgy, freelance dramaturgy, arts & culture criticism
Editing, research, collaboration, script analysis
Program notes, copy-editing
Equity Diversity & Inclusion facilitation
Honors & Awards
Pierre-André Salim Prize for “artistry, professionalism, collaborative energy, & commitment to the community”
Yale School of Drama · 2018
Scholarship Recipient
Urban Bush Women's Summer Leadership Institute · 2017
Listed in TCG’s “Role Call: 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know”
American Theatre October 2016
LMDA Dramaturg-Driven Grant · 2014
Encuentro Attendance Grant
Latinx Theater Commons · 2014
NALAC National Leadership Institute Fellow · 2014
Student Dramaturgy Award
LMDA & Kennedy Center · 2013
Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar · 2012
Gold Standard Scholarship Fund · 2012
SROP Thesis Nominated for Exemplary Research Citation · 2010