Katie Beck

Katie Beck is a creative community builder, director, writer, actor, and teaching artist who works to build spaces that highlight and prioritize underrepresented voices. After graduating from Allegheny College in 2014 with a BA in Theatre and Community and Justice Studies, she moved back to her hometown of Akron. Since establishing Gum-Dip Theatre in 2016, Katie has produced or directed nearly 80 performances of community-based theatre. Recent directing credits include Denied Admission, My North Hill, Imprisoned, Namaste-WHAT?, In Search of Alternative Dreams, Girls Studio, and Into the Mold. Katie is the recipient of the 2019 ‘30 for Future’ Award by the Greater Akron Chamber, the 2018 Arts Alive Award for Outstanding Artist in Theatre, the 2017 Akron Fellowship for League of Creative Interventionists, and a 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Grant for the “Nepali Applause” festival. Her published writing credits include: “Developing a Community-Engaged Scholarly Identity” in Publicly Engaged Scholars and “Connecting My Academic Studies with Community Practice” in the fall 2016 issue of Diversity and Democracy.