Kay Cattarulla

Kay Cattarulla is an independent writer and literary producer who has lived in Dallas since 1990. She was a member of first Texas Book Festival advisory council and has served consistently ever since. In an earlier life in New York, she was part of the group that founded the performing arts center, Symphony Space, in 1978. She conceived that theater’s literary hit, SELECTED SHORTS: A Celebration of the Short Story and, together with Isaiah Sheffer, built it the series of short fiction readings by actors into a success, both live and on public radio.  She founded the literary series Arts & Letters Live at the Dallas Museum of Art in 1992 and produced its first twelve seasons (the program celebrated its 25thyear in 2015.) Her two-voice script SCOTT AND ZELDA, about the famous Fitzgeralds, was first performed by John Benjamin Hickey and Natasha Richardson as part of Arts & Letters Live in 2002.  She is also co-writer and co-producer (with public station KERA) of SWEET TORNADO: Margo Jones and the American Theater, an innovative documentary about the Texas-born pioneer of American regional theater.  Kay is currently researching and writing about the tumultuous early history of Symphony Space, a not-well-enough-known story of real estate and the arts on New York’s Upper West Side.