Actor Katie Lowes starring in 'Liberation' at Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Tony Award-winning play is now running at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The West Coast premiere of Liberation runs to the end of the month, taking a look at the feminist revolution and its unanswered questions. And one of the stars of the play is an actress you may recognize. Katie Lowe is best known for her shows like Scandal and Venti Anna. And you're right here. Hi, Katie. Hi. How are you? Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad you're going to be in Berkeley. I went to school there. I love Berkeley. I love it. I love that theater. It's so beautiful. The community has been. So supportive. I keep telling everyone I'm just going to move there. I mean, you could. I'll give you some tips. I mean, first of all, the food is great. As you know, we've got the gourmet ghetto. Delicious. When it comes to this particular piece, I know that it's close to your heart. It is. It's a very important piece about women's liberation in the 70s. I read that there have been some important people to come see it too, right? Oh, I mean. I mean, Gloria Steinem saw it when it was on Broadway. I'm pretty sure Hillary Clinton, the list was very, very impressive because it's dealing with, I get to play somebody now, a mom of two now who's having somewhat of a, let's call it a midlife crisis, and her mother has passed away, and she goes back in time and plays her mother who started a women's liberation group in the middle of Ohio, and she goes back in time and plays her mom And really is addressing and looking at the. The women's movement and equality and where that has fallen short or where it has succeeded in today's day, which we've come a very long way from the time where women couldn't get a credit card, they couldn't wear pants, they couldn't get a loan from the bank. So we've made a lot of progress, but there is still very far to go. Thank And then at the heart of it, it's about motherhood and it's about getting to ask your mom questions that you wish they were still around that you could ask. I'm going to ask. There's never a dry eye in the house, but there's a ton of laughter, a ton. I mean, the show has to stop all night for applause and laughter. you. It's a fun ride. This leads me into this question. You're doing TV work, right? Yes, a lot. We're talking about this. When you're doing TV work, we're in a studio. There's really no one here. There's a couple people back there. But when you're on stage, it's different. So tell me how this compares to, like, Scandal, where you're talking a mile a minute. Yes. Because that's you, right? Right. Well, both both scandal and. Um, Liberation are written by my two, like, favorite prolific writers, Shonda Rhimes, who created Scandal and Inventing Anna, and then Bess Wall just won the Pulitzer for this play, um, Liberation. So I'm very lucky in that I get to work on amazing material written by incredible women. Um, the craziest difference is that theater happens at night, and I'm more of a morning person, and TV, like you all know, shoots really early in the morning. And the biggest energy boost of my day is at 8 o'clock at night. But I prefer theater over any of them because I love a live audience. You like the feedback. I love the feedback. I love hearing the laughter. My character in Liberation, direct address, talks to the audience. So every single night, it's like you're my scene partner. I'm talking to the audience. I can hear what you're responding to. We're making up stuff in the moment. Thank And the Berkeley audiences, the San Francisco audiences, they've been amazing. Yeah, well, I mean, Berkeley has a history with the women's liberation movement, right? So tell me more about the 1970s, what you've learned about, because you weren't around then, but you've kind of transported yourself back to that. you. Yes, the audiences are incredible because we've had a lot of women who... Were there during this specific 70s women's lib movement that they were part of groups like this themselves here in Berkeley and they feel they've been telling the artistic director Joanna Felder they've been telling her they've been telling me after the shows like I'm seeing my story on stage I'm seeing myself I'm seeing this experience on stage which that's that's what theater is all about it's about. Seeing the stories that you remember being a part of and, you know, helping you process the choices you've made. So, yeah, I'm really proud of the play. Everyone should check it out. It is the most wonderful night at the theater. It's cathartic. It's hilarious. It's heartfelt. You learn a lot. It's just the full meal. This is great. Yeah, absolutely. Welcome to Berkeley. Thank you. Thank you. Please watch our show. Go Valkyries. Please watch it. Exactly. Watch our show when you're here. Yes, I will. Liberation is running at the Berkeley Rep through November 9th. Actor Kitty Lowe is right here. Yeah. Plays Lizzie, one of the important characters. Thank you for joining us. We'll be right back after a short break. Stay with us.