We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katherene Garry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katherene below.

Katherene, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

While living in New York, I didn’t have much money to do a lot of fun stuff, so I would sleep on the sidewalks for stand-by tickets just to watch a live taping of Saturday Night Live. I enjoy making people laugh, but to make it a career is a dream come true. So that’s when I took some comedy sketch classes at Upright Citizen Brigade (UCB), a lot of SNL alumni’s come from there.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For as long as I can remember, I have always enjoy writing. I knew I had a gift in elementary when I wrote a story about a “Time Machine” and a teacher mistakenly gave praise to another student. The student was so confused and I told her that I actually wrote and she said “Oh, well it was good”. I knew right there that I was talented. Growing up in Wyandotte, I was filled with lots of ideas, but didn’t have the platform to display them until I got to College. I attended and graduated from Kansas City Kansas Community College and majored in Theatre. I was blessed to have two one act plays produce there “Son, this is your new sista” and “Why is my grandmother dead”. There I was blessed to have met playwright Nathan Louis Jackson who read and gave us some pointers on our plays. He would then become my mentor. He would always asked me about what my main focus point was in my writing? He would continued to ask me the same question for years and I wouldn’t have an answer. After graduating from college, I moved and attended The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts then after a year I realized that I wanted to write. I never went back to the acting school and instead I join an improv team called “The Nat Turner Revue”. Where we traveled to Chicago, Ireland, and U.K to perform in their comedy festival. After winning a Diversity scholarship, I took some classes at Upright Citizens Brigade. I would stay up all night to practice my writing. I remember binge watching comedy sketch shows like Dave Chappelle, In living color, Mr. show, Mad TV, SNL, and many more. I was so invested and wanted to be great at it. I ended up moving back to Kansas City because New York was too expensive. I remember auditioning to be a part of an improv team. I was so excited and had so much confidence because of my background. I mean, I performed overseas! But unfortunately, I didn’t get a call back. For years I was discouraged. I mean, the comedy world is filled with white men. I had to move back to Kansas City and basically had to start over. I still kept in contact with my mentor Nathan Jackson who was still asking me this question. “what is your main focus point on your writing?”. I don’t know sir! I just want to write. After a few years later, I had to make a decision on if I wanted to write or go back to school. I made the decision to write and I enter in the KC Fringe Festival and wrote a comedy show called “Let me explain my blackness:Addressing black womens concerns through comedy” I had no clue what I was doing and I did everything from casting, to scheduling rehearsals. It was a challenge yet rewarding because the first show I ever wrote won “Best Venue”! Then a few years later, I won another “Best Venue” with a different show. Then I finally had an answer for my mentor. My main focus point is black culture. How there is so much negativity going on and how it’s just exhausting to be sad all the time. Why not laugh a little bit? One thing about black folks is that they are going to make fun of a serious situation. Why not just put it on stage? Dave Chappelle did it! My favorite thing after shows is hearing people tell you how much they could relate to my comedy sketches. That’s when I knew I did my job. The people that don’t get it, is not paying attention. There’s comedy in my sketches, but there is ALWAYS a message. After answering my mentor’s question, he pretty much open up a new level for me. Finally, sheesh! I began to edit some things for him and we would pitch ideas. Me? A successful playwright and TV writer asking me for ideas? Am I getting paid for this? He definitely prepared me for the future inside of a writers room until the day his soul left this earth. Before he passed away, he was about stepping outside the box. He would tell me stories of how he became successful and was pushing me to follow his lead. I have always looked up to him. I mean, how many writers come from Wyandotte? So I found a comedy festival and sure enough my sketch team “The Black Card Experience” was selected to participate. Now these days, my home is at The Bird Comedy theatre where I’m a producer and teacher inspiring people not only follow their dreams, but chase them.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wasn’t exposed to comedy sketch writing until my first trip to NY in college. Now, I’m pushing to introduce playwriting/comedy sketch to the younger generation.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Doing something that scares me. I was afraid of being rejected from submitting to the San Francisco Comedy Sketch Festival, but we were selected out of 600 submissions! I tell people all the time that if your dream scares you then you have to go for it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Kathereneizawriter
• Facebook: KathereneGarry

Image Credits
Jessica Kent-Deterding Michael Stoufer