Katy White/Katherine White Interview by Jen Bush

This play is double trouble!  In Hi, My Name Is…, you get two for the price of one in this one woman show.  Written and starring Kay White — or is it Katherine White?

Hi, My Name Is…. features Ms. White engaged in a spirited “self-talk” – the kind we all have – elaborating on what it means to be truly ourselves – especially when we may not know who we really are! This schizophrenic story-telling journey allows us to meet Katherine – and Katy – who take the audience on a deeply moving ride culminating with her/them inviting the audience to VOTE on who will be in charge. As each tries to sway the audience, they unwittingly reveal the mess inside us all.

Katy White is a writer-performer who currently lives in New York, but also splits her time in Washington, DC and Colorado. She graduated with her MFA in Classical Acting in 2021. Her most recent roles include It’s a Wonderful Life (Mary), Julius Caesar (Mark Antony), The Cherry Orchard (Yasha), The Importance of Being Earnest (Gwendolyn Christie), Crimes of the Heart (Babe Magrath). 

We recently had a wonderful chat with Katy White. 

BUT … When Katherine got wind of it, she was none too pleased and had a few things of her own to say. 

So we invited Katherine along to speak with Katy.

It should be noted that they are not twins.  They are two voices coming from one head! Here is their joint spirited interview for you to enjoy which will surely entice you to see the show!  

 

Katy & Katherine lived in many places growing up.  As most young people do, they weighed their options for career choices ultimately landing in the arts.  Luckily, they broke away from their anti-acting partner so that they could bring us this wonderful play and other creative works.

KATY: I’m a Colorado native, which of course means I’m arrogant when it comes to hiking and mountains. I’m kind of a mutt, and have lived all over: Colorado, New Jersey, Holland, Ohio, D.C, NYC. I often feel like my story is typical of any artist: divorced parents, feelings of neglect, a horrible inclination for sarcasm, with an overuse of finger-guns. I think one of the things that sets me apart is how long it’s taken me to just embrace the fact that all I can be in this world is an actor. 

KATHERINE: Can you believe there was a time in our lives when she told me we were going to be a farmer? But that was after we were going to be a geologist, a middle school teacher, and of course an Egyptologist.

KATY: Don’t forget restaurant owner. I think I even wanted to be a surgeon at some point, but when I learned that it required math and quick division, I realized very quickly that that was not the droid I was looking for. 

KATHERINE: We were with a partner for a long period of time-

KATY: 8 years-

KATHERINE: Who forbade us from acting. ‘Twas a waste, we were told. 

KATY: He ‘twas a jerk.

KATHERINE: ‘Twas indeed. 

KATY: After we finally extracted ourselves from that relationship, we hit the ground running with auditions, writing, acting, culminating with our MFA in Classical Acting from the Shakespeare Theater Company in D.C. And I haven’t stopped since! Well, I do stop when Great British Bake Off comes on.

KATHERINE: That is just common sense.

There is some discrepancy as to where the inspiration for this play came from.

KATY: Spend 5 minutes alone in a room with Katherine and you will immediately understand why this play needed to take place. The only way to finally shut her up, forever, and prove to her that I am the one in charge here, was to write something that included testimony for an audience to decide who is the better candidate. I’m basically the Hakeem Jeffries to her Kevin McCarthy. 

KATHERINE: Mature. As always. For the record, it was me who first provided inspiration for this project. I read the play “Thom Pain (based on nothing)” by Will Eno and immediately thought, “Wait….people can write things like this?” Having always considered myself a writer trapped in the body of a clown, I encouraged us to write a graphic novel for our MFA thesis in 2022. I have always been a fan of the amalgamation of words and art.

KATY: Nobody knows what the word “amalgamation” means. Just say “bad-ass combo”. 

KATHERINE: Anyway, I love comics and graphic novels, so if I was going to write a thesis of my life and art, it had to be done in the only way I knew we could: images. 

KATY: My thesis advisor told me that I needed to take my MFA and turn it something more, so I took all that craziness and turned it into a show. Mostly because Katherine would not shut up about it. I had to write it to make her leave me alone. And then I realized that I could write a whole show about officially making her leave me alone. That sounded pretty great to me.

This play has been seen across the country already.  We wondered what the audience reaction has been so far.

KATY: Confusion. 

KATHERINE: Concern. 

KATY: Captivation. 

KATHERINE: Commiseration.

KATY: Part of the thing that Katherine hates about me, is I can be a little pathological, and the confusion and awkwardness this piece creates within the audience is the very energy and nature I’m trying to explore. The tragedy of knowing there are parts of ourselves we hate, so much to the point they are a whole person. To me, the audience are more than just a character: they are the point. The Heart.

KATHERINE: The mitochondria, if you will-

KATY: The show cannot exist without them, so they are being forced to participate and observe these two insane people.

KATHERINE: Her word. Not mine. 

KATY: I also think audiences, while at first perhaps enjoying the power of controlling a person’s destiny, were ultimately uncomfortable with that power.

KATHERINE: I found it intensely gratifying when people would tell me how viscerally they felt the conflict that we have battled for 33 years, as mirroring their own internal struggle. The recognition of the “Katy and Katherine” inside themselves proved, for me, the power of this play.

KATY: I just really wanted to see the looks on their faces when I tell the story about fishing my-

KATHERINE: Yes, yes, yes! No need to tell it here. Save it until November, thank you. 

Doing a play about self-exploration is brave.  It could also come with obstacles.

KATY: I knew I didn’t want to shy away from the abuse I experienced from both a stranger and my own father. It was crazy, I couldn’t remember the name of the man who assaulted me until I sat down to write this. It was so erased from my life, that when I started writing about it, I realized I couldn’t remember his name until it came screaming into my consciousness. I knew that if I was going to ask the audience to live through these moments and memories with me, then I needed to do it as well. 

KATHERINE: I found it difficult to be heard. Felt. To believe as though I was real and a person worthy of having a voice. I often feel silenced in the capacity that I function in, as Katherine, and trying to find patience with the stuff Katy has done-

KATY: WE have done-

KATHERINE: Things that have been done by persons present, or not present, and forgive that pain. They say bitterness is the poison we drink, hoping the other person will die. Well, if she dies, I die, so I guess I need to stop being so bitter. Even if it is justified. 

KATY: I think the biggest thing I learned, was that Katy is not ready to confront Katy, and Katherine is not ready to confront Katherine, and that can only do so with the other in tow.

KATHERINE: I also realized how often she forgets to put on deodorant. That was a big part of this whole process. 

When new works get performed over time, sometimes they evolve.  Sometimes the people involved in the productions do too.

KATHERINE: Shakespeare once wrote-

KATY: Oh dear god-

KATHERINE: “Devise, wit; write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio.” Initially, I wasn’t even in the first draft of the script!

KATY: Believe me that cajoling I got-

KATHERINE: Did you just say “cajoling”?

KATY: Yeah! I know stuff too! Thing is, I couldn’t keep her out! Every time I tried to write this without letting her be involved, she got in a little bit more until she had to be a part of it. Don’t tell her I said this, but I actually discovered how broken Katherine is. There’s this huge front (façade?) she puts on about being tough and organized, but she is majorly struggling. I didn’t really know that before.

KATHERINE: Dawrin once said-

KATY: Do you see what I’m talking about? All the time with this.

KATHERINE: Darwin once said, “We stopped looking for monsters under our bed when we realized that they were inside us.” That is how we (humans? Katy/Katherine?) have evolved. We spent so much outward time trying to understand and relocate our pain, and the touring of this show has relieved the larger monster inside of us both, and one that can only be tackled together.

KATY: I guess the fact that I lost a Vote in Minnesota shows this has evolved. People are seeing both of us, but frankly, no. I need to keep things as they are. I’m in charge, and it needs to stay that way. 

Get your tickets to Hi, My Name is…

You’ll have TWICE the fun!

Katherine Alice – Katy – White

appears with … herself in

Hi, My Name is…

Limited Run:
WEDNESDAY, November 8 @ 4:00 PM
FRIDAY, November 10 @ 6:30 PM
SUNDAY, November 12 @ 1:00 PM

Teatro LATEA, 107 Suffolk Street, New York City