Spotlight On: Kat Hughes, Youth Theatre Director

1st May 2020

In our latest ‘Spotlight On’ Q&A, we chat to New Vic Youth Theatre Director Kat Hughes about how she is helping youth theatre members stay creative during lockdown, and why this current time is making her feel like a teenager again…

Tell us about what your role entails…

I plan and deliver our Youth Theatre programme, including directing their shows. I also run theatre sessions in schools and the community and direct the theatre’s annual Tale Trail shows over Christmas.

Talk us through a typical day…

A typical day would involve reading and adapting scripts, meetings with other creatives and liaising with the rest of the team to plan projects, plus some admin.

Some days I grab a bag of props and head out to a local school, university or community setting to deliver workshops – or run them at the theatre itself. Afterwards I prepare for my evening classes, as my days usually finish with a Youth Theatre session for any age between 10-19, where I might be running a backstage course, directing a play or working with a group to devise a new piece of theatre.

How did you get into the job?

I was in a youth theatre growing up and always loved the environment; this led on to me doing theatre at GCSE and A-Level. I went to The University of Leeds (formerly Bretton Hall) and studied Theatre and Performance. Whilst there I did lots of the Theatre In Education modules and worked in schools and on a fabulous project with Opera North. 

After I graduated, I worked for Cheshire East Youth Theatre and set up my own youth theatre groups in schools and for children with disabilities, before working for the New Vic. 

What’s been your career highlight at the New Vic so far?

All of my projects teach me something new! Right now, I am learning Makaton for a future project, and brushing up on my approach to verse. 

But my career highlight is always when I see members grow up as nice, creative and sparkling adults. I have the utter privilege of creatively engaging with some young people for their entire childhoods. I have been known to shed a few tears when they move on! (every year…)

Tell us something people wouldn’t expect about your job role…

My job has seen me don a parrot outfit in a ‘prison’, organise a sleepover on stage, and (more than once) tear up with pride.

How has your job changed in lockdown?

It has really changed. We have taken a live art form and tried to explore it digitally which can be tricky, although the young people who have embraced it told us how much they value some structure in their lives at the moment. We are currently making a time capsule, to remember this moment in time. We are still communicating and working together as a youth theatre community, just not in person.

How are you keeping yourself happy in lockdown, outside of work?

I am reading all the books I don’t usually have time to read and doing lots of DIY in my downtime as a bit an antidote to screen time. I have also re-discovered my love of drawing and listening to entire albums. In many ways, lockdown has been a way of me re-connecting with many of the interests I had as a teenager.