Kate Fester graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2018, where she studied scenic design and stage properties. A NextNow Award scholar, she designed the scenery for the school's musical, Stephen Sondheim's Company, which focuses on couples and their relationships. In 2016 she was the Scene Designer for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, a realized production of Stephan Adly Guirgis's Tony Award-winning play in which Judas Iscariot is on trial for his betrayal of Jesus. 

For the last 2 summers she's worked at the Utah Shakespeare Festival as the Stage Properties Intern, making props for shows as varied as a period-correct Romeo and Juliet, to Mary Poppins, and the premiere of Shakespeare in Love. She did all of the floral work for The Three Musketeers and Henry V,  including 8-foot hedges, topiary trees, and flower arrangements. For Treasure Island, she was in charge of maintaining all the swords and guns that pirates hunting for gold require.

Previously, she was the Production Intern for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston for Pirates of Penzance (2015) and The Sorcerer (2014). 

A Houston native, she graduated from Memorial High School (2014) where she designed Radium Girls and The Mousetrap. She was the deck crew chief and props chief for the widely-acclaimed Texas All-State Play Coram Boy, performed on the International Thespian Festival's main stage in 2013. 

Honors and Awards

  • UNCSA, NextNow Scholarship, 2017

  • UNCSA, Nancy S. Reynolds Scholarship, 2016.

  • Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Houston Scholarship, 2015, 2014.

  • UNCSA Merit Award, 2016, 2015, 2014.

  • Tommy Tune Award, 2014.

  • TETA-DesignFest: First Place for Scenic Design, 2013.

  • Texas UIL State Meet, Finalist for Individual Set Design: The Hobbit, 2013.

  • International Thespian Society Nationals (NIES): qualified for Set Design, 2013.

  • Texas UIL State Meet, 3rd Place Individual Set Design: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2012.