Katie Butler
Movement is for Every Body
Accessible Physical Theatre Educator and Administrator
Writer--Performer--Director
Pittsburgh, PA
Katie Butler Is...
An Educator and Administrator
Katie has worked in theatre education for more than ten years, serving an incredibly diverse student population, working with every grade range from kindergarten to adult. Katie received her MFA in Devised and Physical Performance from the Pig Iron School in 2020, and since then has primarily taught Movement for Actors and Improv classes for artists and non-artists, as well as worked as a nonprofit administrator.
Katie's career centers on fostering community-based processes and practices that benefit youth and families. As an adept communicator and manager, Katie has spent more than a decade building her skills developing innovative programming, hiring, managing and mentoring staff, students and volunteers, and planning educational events, alongside marketing and budget management.
As a disabled educator, Katie's pedagogical focus centers around accessibility in movement practice. Katie continues to pursue more equity and accessibility in her movement spaces, and is designing a principle-based framework to ensure all bodies can benefit from movement work.
Most recently Katie served as Visiting Faculty of Movement with Carnegie Mellon University, and is joining City Theatre as a Teaching Artist for their Arts Access program.
A Writer
Katie's professional writing explores frameworks for accessible movement practice. In 2026, Katie's writing was published in the Association of Theatre Movement Educator's peer-reviewed newsletter (PDF here). Her writing also appears in HowlRound, most recently with a 2025 essay titled "Designing Accessible Movement Spaces", a follow-up to her "Movement is for Every Body" essay in 2023.
Katie also chronicles her personal and professional journey through her Substack. You can check out her Substack writing HERE.
A Performer and Director
Katie has been a performer for more than twenty years, proudly serving as a founding company member for Shakespeare on Tap, a Philadelphia-based theatre company that performs the Bard's works in bars after only one rehearsal--favorite roles include Rosalind in "As You Like it" and Malvolio in "Twelfth Night".
While she began her performing career in scripted works, Katie is drawn to devising work that allows for imagination and collaboration, and views her directing work in the same way, getting out of the performer's way and allowing them to leave their mark on the role. Katie enjoys directing educational theatre that fosters a collaborative environment, allowing students to assert their artistry while learning their craft.
Most recently Katie directed a staged reading of a new work by disabled Irish playwright Kaite O'Reilly for the 2025 World Voices Festival hosted by CUNY.
New and Upcoming
Equity and Accessibility in Movement and Maskwork Survey
Throughout 2026, Katie has been meeting and collaborating with Artist-Educators Tara Cariaso and Connor Hogan, building an in-depth anonymous survey geared toward assessing attitudes and practices in physical theatre and mask pedagogies. The survey is LIVE! If you are a:
-U.S.-based physical theatre educator
-teach in higher education
-have experience teaching mask work
We want to hear from you!
This anonymous survey is Phase 1 of our inquiry, with Phase 2 launching in the fall with interviews of survey-takers that wish to further the discussion.
SURVEY CLOSES AUGUST 31ST!
Workshops
Katie has developed and delivered many workshops over the years for students, educators, and artistic and non-artistic professionals, ranging from method specific (Lecoq, Viewpoints, Mask Work) to improv skills for non-artists, to teacher trainings like gameifying classrooms. All of Katie's workshops center a principles-based approach, ensuring all bodies can participate.
Katie is also available for developing personalized workshops for artists and non-artists, with a particular interest in working with community centered individuals and organizations, and disability/accessibility focused workshops. Contact below to start collaborating.
Teacher Training
-Gameifying the Classroom
-Ensemble Building in the Classroom
-Accessibility in the Movement Studio
Lecoq
-Mimodynamique (Animal, Color, Element, Material work for actors)
-Devising Techniques
-Push/Pull
-Ensemble Building
-Seven Levels of Tension
Viewpoints
-Introduction to the 9 Physical Viewpoints (Anne Bogart)
-Viewpoints for Devising
-Ensemble Building through Viewpoints
Improv
-Improv for Teambuilding (non-artists)
-"S is for Stage Picture" (artists)
-Improv 101 for non-artists
-Improv for Career Professionals
-Improv for Ensemble Building
Mask Work
-Commedia
-Neutral Mask
-Larval Mask
-Red Nose Clown
Gallery
Deaf and Disabled Panel Discussion, World Voices Festival 2025 (VIDEO)
Get in Touch
Katie is accepting inquiries in the following areas:
-Accessible pedagogy frameworks
-Artistic collaborations
-Movement direction
-Workshop development and delivery
-Disability and performance research
To Book a Meeting:
1. Use the link below to request a meeting time
2. Fill out the contact form with a detailed message of the meeting request.
*meeting requests without an accompanying message will be ignored.
