Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Fletcher.
Hi Kat, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi! My name is Kat Fletcher, and I’m an actor, singer, model, and aerialist currently based in the Southeast US (Charlotte, NC). I was a shy kid who stumbled into theatre and never stopped falling in love with the arts! I pride myself on preparation, professionalism, and collaboration to build performances that best serve the material and audience.
I began acting in 2014 and really began to pursue the performing arts full-time in 2020. While lockdown was scary and did make the end of high school turbulent to say the least, it gave me time to prioritize honing my skills and technique and building a stronger repertoire. What seemed at the time a hindrance since in-person productions were put on hold was actually a blessing in disguise because I was forced to be alone and be honest with myself about strengths and weaknesses, long-term goals, etc. After high school, I went to UNC Charlotte and triple majored in Theatre Performance, Theatre Design and Technology (Lighting), and Spanish, while also studying in the conservatory-style musical theatre certificate program.
Just in the past year or so since finishing undergrad, I have worked as a party princess, haunt actor, standardized patient for medical students, and various gigs as a print and runway model, aerialist, singer, film and theatre actor. I also use my background in lighting design and technology to stay involved in the arts – whether it’s onstage or behind the scenes, if I get to help make something cool, I’m a happy camper! While not as often now that I’m making a full-time living acting, I have worked as a stagehand, lighting designer, programmer, and production assistant.
I am so grateful to be able to make a living doing what I love. About once a week, I realize that I’m doing what little Kat dreamed of, and it hits me like a train. Of course, as with any job, there are times when I don’t want to get out of bed, and I won’t say the hours aren’t exhausting, but whenever it starts to get to me, I realize I’m doing the thing I spent my entire childhood working towards. It took a lot of sacrifice to get to this place, so it’s incredibly gratifying to take a step back and realize how lucky I am to tell stories for a living. Almost once a day, I’ll stop for a second and think “Wow. This is my job”. I am incredibly privileged to have had access to the resources and arts education I did, and to have been able to take the risks and time off that led to the opportunities I have today.
To conclude a very long-winded intro, I am most proud of the balance I have found between work and play. Acting is inherently play, and if you take yourself too seriously, there is a lack of authenticity and humanity that the audience can feel instantly. On the other hand, I have so much respect and gratitude for the fulfillment this craft has brought me, so being prepared and putting in the work to be a good collaborator is equally important to me. I have fallen into both pits at one time or another: taking a role too seriously and stripping the character of its sense of realness, or getting too excited and needing to reground myself to work efficiently. I primarily pull from the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and Uta Hagen as a jumping-off point for character development, and have developed little tricks that help me personally as well. There is always room to learn and grow, and I learn something new on every project, so I look forward to seeing what Kat five or ten years from now will have up her sleeve!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am grateful to say it has been a fairly smooth road! Rejection is an inherent part of the work, as are ups and downs, but I consider those learning experiences, not obstacles. The only challenge that comes to mind is something I hope to change in how the general public views the arts and artists. Growing up, all I heard was that performing was something you did as a hobby until you eventually grew out of it and got a “big kid job”. When I expressed my desire to pursue a career as an actor, it was usually met with concern and questions of “what about when it doesn’t work out?”. I know everyone meant well, but I wish more people understood how much work goes into being an actor and how much discipline it takes to be self-motivated and push yourself to constantly learn, grow, submit, and audition while still working. As fun and exciting as the work is, at the end of the day it is work, and can be incredibly physically and mentally demanding, as with any job. I get a lot of remarks about how lucky I am to have such an easy job, and while I know they are meant as compliments, it does make me feel as though my work is looked down on at times. Performing is a much more personal and vulnerable occupation than the more traditional fields, and while 10-year-old Kat didn’t have a master plan and just liked playing pretend with her friends, it worked out well and has bled into my personal life for the better!
As someone who has battled with severe OCD my whole life, my career also ended up healing me in ways I never expected. Acting taught me to become comfortable with discomfort, which I later learned is a key element of OCD treatment, and is now my go-to weapon against it. Discomfort is not the enemy, and beyond it lie so many cool experiences (easier said than done, I know). Whether it was letting rejection roll off my back, or handling particularly heavy material and bringing myself in and out of heightened emotional states, the million experiences I never could have predicted taught me to better understand and control my own emotions, which I in turn could apply to more tricky, real-life issues. I used to be incredibly averse to anything unknown, and I didn’t notice until recently, but I’m proud to say I’m not phased by much anymore! Unexpected mistakes and mishaps are part of the job, and I’ve learned to think on my feet and go with the flow, even in awkward or absurd scenarios. It’s not for everyone, but that’s one of the things I love most about performing! Every day is different, and you get to experience things that would never happen in real life alongside the people you love.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I would say I am most proud of my versatility, and what sets me apart from others is my work ethic and attention to detail. When approaching a role, I go all in. While training and ability are absolutely a part of what makes a good performance, I believe a performance can’t be great, and a character truly lived in, without proper preparation and research. In addition to dedicating time to memorization and initial character work, I pull my favorite parts from established techniques to find what works best for me to fully develop a character and their journey. I make playlists for every character, adding songs the character would enjoy or songs that relate to their experience, and listen to them before a show or on set between shots. I also believe specificity and strong choices make or break a performance, so I use Uta Hagen’s questions as a jumping off point and annotate scripts with the character’s objectives, inner dialogue, and other ideas that come to mind.
Regarding versatility, I used to think that if I didn’t solely focus on one area of the arts, I would be spread too thin and have no success as a professional artist. Luckily, the complete opposite has proven true. I have been incredibly lucky to find a handful of things that I am so passionate about, and I used to worry constantly about choosing one. I love acting just as much as I love aerial/circus work, learning languages, and programming/designing lights. While acting has taken the forefront, and I did have to prioritize one passion to market myself more clearly, the other abilities work in tandem with it and have proved an asset, not a hindrance. My work as a stagehand and lighting technician has led to connections for performance opportunities, and some casting calls ask for special skills, such as speaking different languages or movement experience. Because of this, I have learned to embrace the fact that I love so many different things, instead of pushing them down!
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
There are so many wonderful people who I could not have had this wonderful journey without – too many to name, but I do want to give a huge thank you to my incredible parents, who supported me unconditionally and dealt with the many ups and downs of raising a performer. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without the many educators I have had the privilege to learn from, either. My high school drama teacher, Chris Connor, believed in me when I didn’t, and I can’t thank him enough for instilling in every one of his students that we are enough. The same can be said about my wonderful professors and mentors from undergrad and beyond; I look at my career and approach to acting as an amalgamation of every kind soul I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with and learning from. The community is what first made me fall in love with theatre, and what has continued to make the difficult parts of this career so incredibly rewarding. What do you mean I get to be someone different every day – in a different place, with different people, and get paid to play pretend? That is worth more than any salary to me. I want to look back on my life and be proud of all the unique ways I made a living. Because the nature of the work is more time-consuming and emotionally intimate, work and life blend together in a way that wasn’t the case in my previous, more traditional jobs. I see the same faces on different projects and have met my dearest friends and loved ones on set. It’s hard to not get close with someone after spending 17 hours straight with them!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/katfletcherofficial
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katfletcher_official
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-fletcher/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KatFletcherActor
- Other: https://katfletcherofficial.com
