Residencies
Kate Hood
Kate Hood is the Artistic Director of disability-led theatre company, Raspberry Ripple Productions.
She had a career as an able-bodied actor for many years, performing across theatre, TV (Prisoner) and film. She became a wheelchair user a decade ago and reinvented herself as a disabled actor and theatre-maker, finding herself part of a new group of talented writers and performers with disability.
At the same time she kept one foot in the mainstream, working extensively as a voice-over artist, performing regularly at the Words in Winter Festival and winning awards for her audio book narrations for Bolinda Publications.
She passionately wants to see the invisibility of disabled performers come to an end. She believes that there is a place across our stages and screens for disabled performers, that their presence will add new dimension to the mainstream industry, and that the best way to advocate for this change is to make work which tells stories of difference.
Raspberry Ripple does just that. It makes compelling, inclusive theatre using mainstream and disabled artists to articulate everyday, heroic stories of disabled and non-disabled people living together in the world.
Its first production, Enunciations, was supported by Footscray Community Arts Centre under their Call to Create program 2016.
As a Company in Residence at FCAC, Raspberry Ripple is developing a new show, Workshops, Playreadings and a Theatre in Education arm.
Kate is Deputy Chair of Actors Equity’s Diversity Committee.