Katherine "Katie" Cappiello is an American playwright, director, feminist, teacher, activist and public speaker best known for her plays Slut and Now That We're Men.
Gloria Steinem called Slut "truthful, raw and immediate!"[1] and
David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker called it "vital, moving, and absolutely necessary".[2] Cappiello is the creator, writer and executive producer of Grand Army.[3]
Early life and education
Katie Cappiello was born in
Brockton, Massachusetts to Mike and Jane Cappiello, both retired public school teachers.[4]
Cappiello launched The PossEble Theater Company in 2005,[10] a theater company whose profits from productions were donated to building theater programming in public elementary schools.[11] In 2007, Cappiello co-founded The Arts Effect NYC, a dramatic arts school, with Meg McInerney.[12][13] Currently, Cappiello runs and teaches at her company, GoodCapp Arts, a theater arts production company and training studio for young artists.[14]
Plays
SLUT
SLUT follows the journey of a 16-year-old girl, Joey Del Marco, who is raped by three of her friends. It explores the brutally honest reality and damaging impact of bullying
rape culture and
slut-shaming.[15]
Cappiello is also the playwright for the play Now That We're Men.[37] The play was produced at Dixon Place in New York City in 2016.[38][39][40] In April 2018, it was produced at The
Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Illinois[41][42] and at WNYC's The Greene Space in New York City.[43] The play was produced at schools such as Choate Rosemary Hall,[44]St. Francis College,[45] and Phillips Academy Andover.[46]
Now That We're Men follows five teenage boys in the weeks before prom. It explores
consent,
pornography, "manning up", and sex in the lives of boys and young men.[47]
In 2013, Cappiello wrote and directed A Day in the Life, a play which explores the lives of teenage girls who have been victimized by commercial
sexual trafficking.[48] The play has been produced at various conferences and events at venues such as the 58th session of the
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women;[49] The Make Equality Reality Gala in Beverly Hills, California;[50] the
Paley Center for Media in New York City;[51] and the 2017 Annual Child Welfare Law Update in
Honolulu, HI.[52]
Her Story
Cappiello's play Her Story, Uncut was presented at
The United Nations in 2016;[53] the
United States Institute of Peace's End Violence Against Girls SUMMIT on FGM/C;[54] and at the Make Equality Reality Gala in 2016 in
Los Angeles, California.[55]Her Story, Uncut explores the issue of
female genital mutilation.[56] In 2017, Cappiello wrote and directed After 18, which explores the lives of women who were trafficked as children. A performance of the piece in New York featured cast members from the series Orange Is the New Black, including
Elizabeth Rodriguez and
Lori Tan Chinn as well as
Julia Goldani Telles from the series
The Affair.[57] In 2017, Cappiello wrote and directed JOY, which was presented at the New York FRIDGE Festival.[58] The play explores purity and the sexual lives of a repressed, isolated Christian community.[59] In 2011, Cappiello wrote and directed Facebook Me, which premiered at Teatro SEA in New York City.[60] It also performed at the DR2 Theatre New York City.[61] It explores social media and its influences on the lives of 13-15-year-old girls.[62] Katie wrote and directed Keep Your Eyes Open in 2008, which premiered at the
Cherry Lane Theatre.[63] It won the 2008 Fringe Festival's Outstanding Ensemble Award.[64] The play explores the lives of young schoolgirls.[65] In 2018, Cappiello wrote One Click Away, which premiered at the
Brooklyn Historical Society - the piece explores online sex trafficking.[66]
Cappiello created workshops for the StopSlut movement, a "youth-led anti-sexual bullying movement".[70] She co-created and facilitated Project Impact, "a leadership-through-storytelling workshop for youth trafficking survivors".[71] She has been invited to lead workshops at the ChiTeen Lit Fest;[72] the
St. Paul's School;[73] and at Choate Rosemary Hall.[74]