On August 29th, 2020, InterAct lost one of its most beloved family members, Catherine “Kaki” Marshall. Kaki was my teacher and adviser at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-1980’s and became InterAct’s founding Board President in 1988.  She worked briefly as the company’s Literary Manager in the mid-1990’s and returned as Board President for a year in 1998. In 2000 Kaki was the recipient of InterAct’s second annual Arts & Community Award, and the award was renamed in her honor. She served as my friend and mentor for the past 35 years, and in 2017 I was able to give back to her in a small way by setting up recent former InterAct Season Apprentice and Penn theatre alumnus, Grayce Hoffman, as Kaki’s part-time attendant.

Kaki was a champion of the arts, theatre and most passionately of theatre for children, having launched the Philadelphia International Theatre Festival for Children in 1985. She was the recipient of Penn’s Creative Spirit Award and the Barrymore Award for Lifetime Achievement. 

Kaki would have turned 95 next month, and in her 70+ years of teaching, advising, mentoring and trailblazing, she deeply and positively impacted hundreds of lives, of which I was fortunate to be one.

Thank you for everything, Kaki.

-  Seth Rozin, Producing Artistic Director