Kate Valk (born March 6, 1957) has been a central member of The Wooster Group since 1979. Raised with little access to the arts, she moved to New York at nineteen and studied with Stella Adler before encountering the Wooster Group through classes they taught at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Welcomed into the company by Elizabeth LeCompte, Valk filled any role required—sewing costumes, building props, stage managing, transcribing—before making her acting debut in Route 1 & 9.
Alongside founding figures such as Willem Dafoe, Ron Vawter, and Spalding Gray, Valk has appeared in nearly every Wooster Group production since 1981, including Hamlet, The Hairy Ape, Brace Up!, and House/Lights. Now also a director, she continues her fifth decade with the company, with no plans of slowing down.
About The Downtown Performance Series
NYU Skirball and Artifacts have teamed up to produce NYU Skirball Presents Downtown Performance, a series spotlighting the directors, performers, and artists who shaped the movements loosely defined as “Downtown.”
Inspired by the cultural history rooted in NYU Skirball’s neighboring blocks, the Downtown Performance series captures in-depth interviews with living legends of performance. The first instalment, features groundbreaking directors Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, JoAnne Akalaitis and Richard Schechner. For more on NYU Skirball, please visit their website.
