Kate Low is an actor and producer based in Tāmaki Makaurau, originally from the heart of the South Island, Timaru. She developed a love of theatre as a child through holiday programs, community theater shows and basically as much theatre as she could get her hands on. That love carried her all the way to New York to study at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Atlantic Acting school. Alongside acting, she co-founded Resident Dilettante, a theater and film production company that produces community-led and original work in both New Zealand and New York.
Here’s Kate Low’s Shameless Plug:
My personal motto is: Hard work and delusion baby! No one is going to do the work for you. Pair a healthy dose of delusion with the hard work and dedication you need to make your dreams a reality and they just might come true.
My hottest career hack is to celebrate the wins, big or small! This industry is demanding at the best of times and down right soul-sucking at the worst. Celebrate the wins because at every point you could have given up but your love of the work kept you going. Go and get yourself a sweet treat, you deserve it.
The moment I knew I wanted to be an artist was when I was in an all female production of Lord of the Flies in year 11 (2016, oh the year you were). I played Ralph.
Now, for those who have not read or seen Lord of the Flies, I apologize for the spoilers. At the end of the play Ralph is left on stage after the carnage and chaos of the past 50 odd pages or as the Script says: “The final image is of Ralph, alone in the centre of the stage, weeping for the darkness of a man’s heart and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called piggy.”
Our director and drama Teacher, Gillian Towles, had staged the last moment to have Ralph extend his arms à la Jesus on the cross, completely at a loss for what had happened on the island. In one of the final rehearsals, I went into the final moment extending my arms and suddenly, tears just began to stream down my face. I felt completely and utterly present in the story telling.
There was a visceral feeling and reaction in the room to that moment and one of my friends who was also in the show came up and asked, “How did you do that?” I didn’t know then, but what I did know was that I had touched on what it was like to move people in such a way through story telling and I was absolutely hooked.
My biggest inspiration is The National Theatre. I have watched their version of Jane Eyre and People, Places, and Things on National Theatre Live countless times. I think the way they interpret and tell both modern and classical stories is second to none and I am constantly inspired by them. I have yet to see a performance of theirs live but do feel a trip to London needs to happen soon!
An artwork everyone should experience at least once in their life is Golem owned a Tropical Smoothie created by Ethan Crystal and Garret Poladian. It was one of the winners of the Soho Playhouse Lighthouse series last spring and it is the absolute best fever dream of a show that I have ever seen. It needs to be on Broadway immediately and never end its run. Seriously. Go check them out on Instagram now. You won’t regret it.
My favorite podcast for a long while was Armchair Expert and Good Hangs with Amy Poehler. I love listening to actors' processes and how they got their start in the industry. But my latest favourite is Wiser Than me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It’s a podcast where she interviews women who are older and wiser than her and it is one of the most incredible life affirming things I have listened to in a while.
The best thing about being an actor is that you get to live a hundred lives through the characters you play. As a kid I enjoyed acting because I got to escape into another character and be someone else for a bit while I was still working out who I was myself. Now that I have grown into myself more, I love getting lost in a character knowing I have a solid home base to come back to.
I also love working on different projects that require you to go down absolute research rabbit-holes for the show. Any excuse to spend 20 hours reading and learning about a particular topic that I otherwise have no real point of learning brings me so much joy. Oh, and a big fan of learning random skills required for different roles.
If you could go back five years ago and give yourself advice, what would you say? Keep dreaming bigger than what you can see in front of you right now. The possibilities are endless and the only thing that stops you really is the limits you are putting on yourself.
My most embarrassing career moment is a god awful self-tape out there from years ago when there was an open call for Power Rangers. As part of the audition, they wanted you to show some physical skill. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to string a boxing bag to a tree in our backyard and show my kickboxing ‘skills.’ And by skills, I mean me literally punching a bag. Now I have blacked most of it out but I do believe there was a cartwheel into the shot.
Safe to say I did not book that job but I do hope casting got a good giggle out of it.
My shameless plug is How to Build a Gate, written by Electra Artemis, is on at Bats Theatre from the 17 – 21 of February as part of the NZ Fringe Festival. I have been developing this show with a group of fabulous creatives for about two years now and we are thrilled to be bringing this latest and greatest version to NZ Fringe!
In the back of a bar in 2024 I asked Electra a cheeky question, “I’m heading back to New Zealand for summer break from school. Any chance you want to write me a wee show to put on while I’m back?” Like an actual angel on earth, she whipped up the beauty that was the first iteration of How to Build a Gate in about a month (I know, insane). From there, the show has only continued to grow and develop. Beginning in New Zealand with a small tour around the South Island then going on to Spark Emerging Artist Festival and Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series in New York. Now we are incredibly excited to bring a new, never-before-seen rendition of Liza’s and Hal’s story to Bats Theatre.
A big shout out to the people who have been alongside this project for its journey, Benjamin Donaldson, John Gargan, Sydney Dennison, Zora Squish Pruitt, Grace Terranno, Sam Besca, Anna Sophia Accosta, Mark Alberto, Emily Yarmey, Peggie Barnes and Liv Petitit and most importantly, my wonderful costar, Megan Piggott and the genius behind the words, Electra Artemis.
Come and check out How to Build a Gate at Bats 17th - 21st of February! Tickets can be purchased here!
