Broadway Vet Exits Theater Career to Become a Teacher After COVID
Kate Elliott has been working in and around New York’s theater scene for about 20 years, after graduating from Boston University with a BFA in sound design and music. Most recently, she was at RCI Theatricals as the general manager of Broadway’s “Jagged Little Pill” (pictured above), the national touring company of “Oklahoma” and the upcoming Huey Lewis-inspired musical “The Heart of Rock & Roll.”
When the pandemic struck, she began working from her home, which she shares with lighting designer husband Ken and their three kids. A few months in, Elliott began exploring her lifelong interest in teaching. “I just started thinking that when the theaters do come back, it’s going to be like being hit with a ton of bricks because all of the shows are going to come back at the same time,” Elliott, 42, tells Variety from her residence in Brooklyn. “I just don’t know if I have that in me.”
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Elliott said goodbye to RCI a couple weeks ago, with plans to return to school later in the year to get a degree in early childhood education. “There’s definitely a part of me that’s really apprehensive about leaving the world of theater, but I’m also really excited to see what happens,” she says. “I really like little kids, so I want to start with third through fifth grade.”
No matter what, Elliott plans to return to Broadway when theaters reopen — she just won’t be working. “I want to be there the first night ‘Jagged’ is back,” she says. “I’ll be there when they’re in rehearsal too.”
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