Playwright Kathryn Keats visited Playwright's Spotlight to talk about her solo beat musical, The Hummingbird, and the tragic events that led her into going into hiding, coming out on the other side, and the development of the piece, and the catharsis of playwriting. We also discuss the importance of knowing your material, structure in performance art and what it looks like on the page, the difficulty in defining beat poetry, piecing together your play, adding missing elements, the wonderful world of writing and playing with its elements. She also shares how being an acting coach has helped her as a playwright by knowing a characters wants and drives, the need of a reaction if a character doesn't achieve it, and who deserves a seat at the table. A wonderful and uplifting story that sure to motivate all to share their stories. Enjoy! Kathryn Keats is singer/songwriter and Drama Critics' Circle Award winning performance artist as well as an award winning Playwright , Composer and Lyricist (The Hummingbird, solo beat musical, Welthy Cade). Her beat musical -The Hummingbird, was in residency at Berkeley Repertory’s The Ground Floor in 2012 and commissioned by The Marsh Theatre in San Francisco in Oct 2021 and premiered in Oct 2021 as part of Marsh Festival of New Musical Voices.   To view the video format of this episode, visit the link below - https://youtu.be/9lOHX_vFbwY Links to sites and resources mentioned in this episode - Berkeley Rep - https://www.berkeleyrep.org The Marsh - https://themarsh.org The Ground Floor - https://www.berkeleyrep.org/the-ground-floor/ Contact information and socials for Kathryn Keats - Website - www.kathrynkeats.com IG - @kathrynekeats Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kathryn.keats.5 Twitter - @kathrynkeats Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/5mNfWI4a6S23TtbJqUvQY3 Websites and socials for James Elden, Punk Monkey Productions and Playwright's Spotlight Punk Monkey Productions - www.punkmonkeyproductions.com PLAY Noir - www.playnoir.com PLAY Noir Anthology – www.punkmonkeyproductions.com/contact.html James Elden - Twitter - @jameseldensauer IG - @alakardrake FB - fb.com/jameseldensauer Punk Monkey Productions and PLAY Noir -  Twitter - @punkmonkeyprods                   - @playnoirla  IG - @punkmonkeyprods        - @playnoir_la  FB - fb.com/playnoir         - fb.com/punkmonkeyproductions Playwright's Spotlight - Twitter - @wrightlightpod  IG - @playwrights_spotlight Playwriting services through Los Angeles Collegiate Playwrights Festival www.losangelescollegiateplaywrightsfestival.com/services.html Support the show Support the show