How Kate Navin set the stage for her career

As a student at Penfield High School in the 1990s, Kate Navin enjoyed acting in school plays. She was never the star—her speaking roles were small ones—but the experience, she reflects, “really set me up for success.”

Today, as head of creative development for North America for Audible, the audio entertainment company, Navin oversees Audible Theater, which each year produces dozens of original audio-based plays. They are distributed on the Audible platform; more than half are also performed live at a Greenwich Village theater.

Last month, Audible Theater had its first Broadway premiere with the musical, “Dead Outlaw.” Reviewers have praised the show. “A long-lived corpse makes a surprisingly feel-good Broadway musical,” wrote the New York Times. “Dead Outlaw” has been nominated for seven Tony Awards.  

On May 16, at a ceremony in Manhattan, Navin and Audible Theater will receive their own praise as recipients of the 2025 Drama League’s Contribution to the Theater Award.

Recently, I spoke by Zoom with Kate Navin about her career in New York theater, the Rochester arts scene, and what she likes to do on her frequent visits back home.

 An edited transcript of our interview follows. But first, some background.

Growing up in Penfield, Kate Navin (nee Sparnecht) recalls, “I had a wonderful arts education.” She studied music (clarinet, piano, and voice), took lessons during high school at the Eastman School of Music, and enjoyed productions at Blackfriars and Geva theaters. After high school, she attended SUNY Geneseo as a theater major.

Later, in New York City, Navin worked as a theater agent representing writers,  directors, designers, and others. Eight years ago, she joined Audible Theater, a Newark, N.J.-based department of Audible (itself a subsidiary of Amazon).

Today, Navin heads a 30-person Audible team, including four dedicated to Audible Theater. Each year, they produce more than 100 shows of various genres, including mysteries, true crime, and musicals. The plays, 60-70 minutes in length, are produced for audio listeners. About half are also staged for live audiences at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, and some are staged by regional theatres. To date, none have been staged by Rochester-area theaters.

Audible Theater, a for-profit enterprise, receives no state or federal funding but does enjoy tax credits under a New York law for shows staged in Manhattan.

Navin also oversees Audible Theater’s Emerging Playwrights Fund, a program that commissions new audio plays. (No Rochester-area playwrights have yet received an Emerging Playwright’s commission.)

Over the years, Audible Theater has produced scores of original and classic plays. An especially meaningful one for Navin was comedian Michael Cruz Kayne’s “Sorry For Your Loss.” The show is about Kayne’s effort to deal with the death of his son. When Navin saw Kayne perform an earlier version of the show at a comedy club, she knew she wanted to produce it for Audible—she and her husband had lost their first son in 2013. As the New York Times reported, speaking of Kayne and Navin, “He made a show about grief. She saw herself in it.” 

Today, Navin, her husband, and their two children, a boy, 10, and a girl, 5, live in New Jersey. They enjoy visits to Rochester to see family and friends.

The following is an edited version of my Zoom interview with Navin conducted in late April.

ROCHESTER BEACON: What are some differences between old-time radio dramas and the live audio plays you produce? Or are they essentially the same?

KATE NAVIN: The roots are in radio drama, but the biggest difference is in the technology of production. Today’s audience is looking for things like sound design and dialogue to feel very contemporary, even when we’re looking at a classic.

ROCHESTER BEACON: What aspects of a stage play, a book, or movie script make it adaptable to an audio play?

NAVIN: Plays work well because, generally speaking, they have limited settings and contained spaces, and that makes it easier to understand in the listening. Playwrights are the best because they’re used to moving a story through dialogue, and that’s key. You need strong characters and you need to be able to tell more than show. With screenplays and teleplays it’s harder because they’ve been conceived visually.

ROCHESTER BEACON: Your first musical production, which just premiered on Broadway, is “Dead Outlaw.”  What’s that about and why should Beacon readers come to New York to see it?

NAVIN: It tells the incredible true story of Elmer McCurdy, a bad outlaw who robbed banks unsuccessfully, got in with a gang and ultimately got killed in a shootout. That’s the first half of the musical. Then we learn about what happened to Elmer after he died: His corpse became more famous than he ever was, starred in silent films, toured with a wax museum, and ended up in theme parks as part of the rides.

ROCHESTER BEACON: That’s fiction or nonfiction?

NAVIN: Nonfiction. It’s all true.

ROCHESTER BEACON: Let’s talk about your background in Rochester. Was there something about growing up here that prepared you for working in the world of professional drama?

NAVIN: I had incredible teachers in the arts in Rochester. Jack Langerak was my teacher at Penfield. He introduced me to theater in a way that was fun and challenging. Everybody had a role in that room so even if you weren’t the lead, everybody felt included. I loved it. I owe that to Jack and I think that really set me up for success.

ROCHESTER BEACON: Looking back to high school plays, any favorite shows you were in?

NAVIN: Oh, I love that question. I was not the lead; I generally had smaller speaking roles. My favorite was one we did by Thorton Wilder about the end of the world: “The Skin of Our Teeth.” I played Hester, the wardrobe mistress. That was a really fun production.

ROCHESTER BEACON: In your work with Audible Theater, have you had much contact with Geva Theatre, Blackfriars, or other Rochester stages?

NAVIN: Definitely Geva—they’re people I’ve known through the industry. We’ve talked about a couple of ways to partner but haven’t nailed it yet, but we continue to talk, mostly about their new work space and about opportunities for the Emerging Playwrights Fund.

ROCHESTER BEACON: Tell me about the Emerging Playwrights Fund. How many submissions do you receive in a year?

NAVIN: It varies, but lately it’s a steady stream of around 200.

ROCHESTER BEACON: And that’s from younger writers as well as more seasoned writers?

NAVIN: Yes. We let the writer define themselves as emerging, so it’s not age-dependent and we do see submissions from a diverse group of ages. It’s a fully open submission process; anyone can apply. The instructions are to write a statement about why you want to work in audio and submit a play that’s best representative of your voice, whether it’s been produced or not. Playwrights should email [email protected].

ROCHESTER BEACON: Who decides on who gets a commission and how much is a typical commission for an emerging playwright?

NAVIN: We have a team of four plus me. We read the scripts together, discuss them, and decide. We look to be sure there’s a tonal balance: a thriller writer, a comedic writer, etc., but also a diverse makeup of the writers themselves. We don’t publicly share the amount of the commission, but it’s important to me that the writers feel well taken care of.

ROCHESTER BEACON: Can you tell anything about the current mood of the culture by the types of submissions you receive—in terms of themes they address?

NAVIN: For sure. I think especially when we’re talking about the emerging class of writers, they are feeling a lot of responsibility, a lot of weight to the world, and a strong desire to speak out about injustices. It’s often a very intimate personal story on that theme. Sometimes it’s political and about needing to be heard. It’s a huge theme among those writers.

ROCHESTER BEACON: You mentioned looking for a diverse group of writers. I notice on your website that Audible Theater “is committed to granting at least 50% of emerging playwright commissions to artists of color and women.” Amazon, the parent company, has a strong non-discrimination statement in terms of hiring and contracting. How do you square your group preference program with the parent company’s non-discrimination policy?

NAVIN: Audible is its own company.

(After our interview, Audible Theater emailed the Rochester Beacon with this statement from Navin: “We invest in making diverse content from a spectrum of voices, and in doing so, champion creatives and creators who may not always have had ways to amplify their stories. Our Emerging Playwrights program not only highlights diverse stories and creative talent, but it also strengthens our business by expanding our catalog with fresh, innovative content and introducing our listeners to the latest new voices in audio storytelling.”)

ROCHESTER BEACON: What do people in the theater scene in Manhattan know about Rochester and what should they know that they don’t?

NAVIN: They do generally know Geva—although a lot want to know if it’s in Westchester! I wish that people knew what an arts-rich city Rochester is—not just theater, but music, the art museums, and the School of the Arts. It’s such a wonderful place to be introduced to a craft and I wish more people knew that about Rochester.

ROCHESTER BEACON: You get back to town regularly?

NAVIN: I do, but not as much as I’d like. More often the family comes (to New Jersey) because I have kids and it’s easier.

ROCHESTER BEACON: When you come back, any favorite restaurants and places to visit?

NAVIN: Ellison Park for the playgrounds and a Red Wings game when the season’s right. For restaurants, Hong Wah Chinese in Penfield. And anywhere for good wings. I’ll also say Wegmans subs—we have Wegmans in New Jersey but the subs are better in Rochester.

Peter Lovenheim is Washington correspondent for the Rochester Beacon. He is author of “In the Neighborhood” and other works. His most recent book, “Gift Shop of Gratitude,” was published in 2024. He can be reached at [email protected].

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