Artist Profile: Katie M. Runions ’25 on Directing, Dramaturgy, and A.R.T.’s ‘The Odyssey’

After directing the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s production of “Anastasia: The Musical” at the Loeb Proscenium last fall, Katie M. Runions ’25 stayed put but moved to a different project — interning for the American Repertory Theater’s production of world-premiere play “The Odyssey” in the very same theater.

Runions, a Theater, Dance, & Media concentrator who plans to pursue directing after her graduation this spring, shared her unique perspective as a student theatermaker working on “The Odyssey.”

“I kind of was able to watch the show progress across before the play’s final draft had even been written all the way until now,” she said in an interview with The Crimson.

As the Directing and Dramaturgy Intern under “The Odyssey” director Shana Cooper and dramaturg Ryan McKittrick, Runions watched the play develop firsthand, sitting in on rehearsals and production meetings from the first table read all the way until opening night on Feb. 18.

“The Odyssey” puts a contemporary spin on the major Greek epic, adapted by the playwright Kate Hamill of “Sense & Sensibility” and “Emma.” Narrated by three women whose identity is “up to the audience to decide” — in Runions’ words — Hamill’s adaptation wields a feminist spin and a focus on the family at the heart of the war story.

“It’s really a story about every war and every family that is affected by war, and how war affects the soldiers, how war affects civilians,” Runions said. “And so you kind of see that with design elements. There are modern costume pieces and then some more ancient costume pieces. The set is a mix of both incredibly modern stylistic elements and then also nods to Ancient Greece.”

From the start of the internship, Runions understood the immense and elaborate task of filling up the 550-seat Loeb Proscenium with a production of many moving parts — having just done it herself.

“You’re just looking at a vast, blank, black space and it’s like a void, that you really have to generate everything there,” Runions said.

Yet speaking on her experience as director, Runions is humble. Giving credit to collaboration, she reflects that her varied experience from acting to tech allowed her to deeply appreciate the work of her 80-person team.

“Having a creative vision is incredibly important, but an individual's vision will never be stronger than the collective end product,” she said.

Not only has Runions worked on the Proscenium stage before, she worked with McKittrick in a dramaturgy course he taught last fall, the same semester that he served as her faculty advisor for “Anastasia.” During the course, Runions had the opportunity to read Hamill’s draft of “The Odyssey” and perform dramaturgical research on Circe and the Furies. As summed up by Runions, the dramaturg — a rather murkily understood role — provides critical research relevant to all aspects of a show.

“I think the best directors think dramaturgically,” Runions said.

As for many other Harvard students who may have studied Homer’s epic poems in the classroom, Runions believes there’s still something novel to be witnessed in the A.R.T. production. Although best known today as a written work, “The Odyssey” originated in oral tradition — which shares the potential to trigger unique, real-time reactions with live theater.

“Even if you’ve studied it in courses, [you’re] getting to watch the story play out and see what happens when physical bodies are going through these experiences and Odysseus is going through this epic journey before your eyes,” she said.

Part of the dramaturgical process was seeking out real war experiences — “The Odyssey” team talked with an actor who also served in the Vietnam War. In another unique process, director Cooper led actors in devising “essence pieces” — short theatrical explorations of core story elements — parts of which made it into the final product.

“Looking at our recent history and exploring what a war story means in the modern day, I think is something incredibly new for all Harvard students,” Runions said.

Raised with an art teacher mom and three sisters in the “fairly artsy” Loveland, Colorado, Runions grew up loving theater but only began to consider theater critically at Harvard. She made the decision to pursue TDM during a gap year before college, overriding her original interest in international relations.

“I realized that the energy I put into theater was creating more good than anything else that I was interested in, both for myself and for people around me,” she said.

Runions’ all-female household formed one of the threads of her writing and directing interests: feminine relationships. Her other running fascination is stories that brim with “magic and whimsy and hope,” including “Anastasia,” which follows a lost princess rediscovering her past. Runions particularly resonates with the overlap between the multiple meanings of the word “play:” to act out a character, and to engage in an enjoyable, often childish activity.

“That’s definitely something that is really essential to me: this idea of reconnecting with the childish impulse to play pretend and to bring back that sense of wonder,” she said.

Hamill’s “The Odyssey” is indeed a female-forward and wondrous stage tale. Post-“The Odyssey,” Runions’ combination of directing and dramaturgical experience will shape her approach to any project, as she pursues art that will lead people to connect with new people, new ideas, or even themselves in a new way.

“One of the beauties of theater is that it doesn’t force you to only partake in one practice. You can kind of exist within all these realms, and there’s space for all of that, which is part of why theater never gets boring,” she said.

“The Odyssey” runs at the Loeb Drama Center through March 16.

—Staff writer Isabelle A. Lu can be reached at isabelle.lu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @IsabelleALu.