Kate O'Donnell
Artistic director of Trans Creative curator of Trans Vegas
If Trans Vegas was happening in Manchester 20 years ago I would have jumped into that world with less fear and more hope. Seeing unapologetic and creative trans visibility has changed this city and made it a happier and safer place. We can see ourselves and we can be ourselves.
Kate O’Donnell writes, directs, curates and occasionally performs. She is best known for setting up Trans Creative in 2016 with its tagline “telling our own stories” and creating Trans Vegas Manchester's first trans arts festival which has celebrated and platformed over 400 trans artists .
Kate's theatre work includes autobiographical shows Big Girl’s Blouse and You've Changed. She has also played Feste in Twelfth Night, Electra in Gypsy and performed in Russell T Davies' Christmas Star (all at Royal Exchange Theatre), Adventures in Time & Gender (2020), Herstory Project (Brighton Festival 2021) and Sunset Boulevard (Royal Albert Hall 2021)
She directed Transpose and Not Dying, both at the Barbican and curated and hosted Manchester Pride's HIV Vigil. Kate worked in collaboration with Milk Present on Trans Filth and Joy which in 2023 was the opening event of Manchester Pride and supported Christine and the Queens at the Meltdown festival in the Southbank.