Bio:
Kathryn “KT” Shivak is a designer, builder, and puppeteer from Chicago. Her puppet designs, objects, and displays have been featured in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Puppetry International, NYC's Puppetopia, The Chicago International Puppetry Festival, Chicago Cultural Center Galleries, in window displays and parades, and on theatrical stages in Chicago, New York, and abroad. KT has 6+ years of experience working for fabrication studios in Chicago. She holds a BFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and recently completed residency year in the Animatronics Shop at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
She created and performs in her original show Rhynoceron, which premiered at HERE Arts Center NYC in 2025 and at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival in 2026. Press for Rhynoceron calls it “phantasmagoric splendor” (Theater Beyond Broadway) and “intrepidly inventive… a sui generis work of imagination” (The New York Times)
To see more puppets in progress, follow me on Instagram: @kt_shivak
