Catherine (Cate) Heiner is a doctoral candidate in the School of Drama at the University of Washington. Her work as a dramaturg has included productions of As You Like It, American Idiot, Self-Defense or Death of Some Salesmen, The Wolves, and the world premier of An Evening with Two Awful Men. Most recently, she served as dramaturg for the UW production of The Importance of Being Earnest. She has presented research at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education annual conference, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, and the American Society for Theatre Research annual conference, and her work has been published in Theatre Journal, Etudes, and Ecumenica. Her research interests include theories of affect and empathy as related to trauma-based dramaturgy.

Cate is also trained in intimacy design and choreography through Heartland Intimacy, and recently received her 200 hour yoga teaching certification.