We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kat Fletcher a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kat, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
Short answer: YES! 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.
I definitely consider what a life as a 9-5er would look like, especially since my closest friends work in corporate and have steady jobs with benefits, set hours, etc. I’m so used to gig work that I don’t notice it until we talk about our respective weeks and it becomes clear how different our schedules are. There are pros and cons to both paths; it’s tough not knowing what next week will look like. Money can be great one month and nonexistent the next, and I had to become a Google Calendar warrior FAST to juggle overlapping schedules and avoid double-booking myself. I wouldn’t change a thing, though! 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.
Kat, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi! My name is Kat, 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.
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!
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.
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!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest (and most relieving) lesson I’ve unlearned over the past few years is that there is no blueprint or “right” way to build a career in the arts. Growing up in theatre, I had the impression that a life in the arts was very black and white. You either “make it” or you don’t, and if you aren’t on Broadway or in the biggest movie of the year, you’re not a “real” actor. The past 5 years have shown me that couldn’t be further from the truth, and I have found fulfillment and pride in being a “real” actor much sooner than I ever could have hoped. The life and career I currently have is what I had imagined for my 25-30 year old self. It happened bit by bit as the gigs increased and the shifts at my survival jobs decreased, until I realized that I didn’t need a survival job at all anymore! I do still get many comments asking what my “real job” is, but it makes me so proud to be able to say that acting is my real job! If readers take one thing away from my story, I hope it’s that it is possible and incredibly rewarding to have a career in the arts. As cliche as it sounds, you really do make your own path, and I found the most success and joy when I stopped trying to recreate the journeys of others and allowed myself to be uncomfortable with the unknown. I’m a person who needs lots of structure and stability, so it’s a wonder that I chose such an unpredictable field, but once I became comfortable with going along for the ride instead of trying to force the ride to go a certain way, so many doors unlocked and I was able to start living instead of just planning.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I do wish Western culture had a greater appreciation for the arts as a serious craft and career. Since I have lived in the US my entire life, I can’t speak on other countries and cultures, but growing up, all I heard was that performing was something you do as a hobby until you eventually grow out of it and get 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 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! Things going wrong is a 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.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/katfletcherofficial?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn2BeGBm_yVJPe1gLVNSiISvINIWmfW90pzfixdF-HudgkX8Km4uUS6AglDlg_aem_zml8i1ZuuinlE_jt4KQG-Q
- Instagram: katfletcher_official
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-fletcher
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@katfletcheractor?si=YC6G-50J1hB-89g9
- Other: Personal website linked above is my Linktree with all the links. I would love to also include my website, katfletcherofficial.com, if possible. Thank you so much!
Image Credits
Carrie Allen Photography (Headshot/personal photo)
Unknown (Image 1)
Scarlet Rink (Image 2)
Miguel Sanchez (Image 3)
Jackson Wells (Image 4)
Unknown (Image 5)
Ethan Everette (Image 6)
Zero Photography (Image 7)
Rachel Kemp (Image 8)