Kate Woods Finds Growth & Healing In ‘Proof’ At The El Portal Theatre

Kate Woods Starring in Proof as "Claire" at the El Portal Theatre, Director, Stuart Rogers

Stage & Screen Actress Kate Woods joins Hollywood Celebrity Cast for Charity GALA for Michael J Fox Foundation Starring Ed Begley Junior and daughter Hayden.

The actress discusses embodying a misunderstood role, her longstanding relationship with Director Stuart Rogers, the personal significance of becoming Kate Woods, and how life and art are coming together during a season of change.

For Kate Woods, it’s an exciting time. It’s a time of change. A time of self-discovery through art. And when she steps on to the stage of the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood on July 23, the world will bear witness to her one-of-a-kind performance in David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof.

Directed by Stuart Rogers, the benefit play will run for a limited time with four shows between July 23 and July 26. Proof features Ed Begley Jr. and his daughter Hayden Begley alongside Woods, who portrays the character Claire. Proceeds from the show will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

“When he gives me direction or gives me a note, he doesn't have to say a lot anymore,” Woods said “It's understood. It's unspoken.”

— Kate Woods

Though Woods knew the character Claire well from previous productions and conservatory, the timing of this project — along with a more “modern” approach by Rogers, as she described it — has helped the actress redefine the role from what the audience may expect.

She said Claire initially appears to audiences as an antagonist; the “villain” in the story.

But Woods said the role holds much more complexity than that. After seeing and studying Proof as a younger actor, she said she once judged both Claire and the play itself. Returning to it now with more life experience has changed that perspective.

“I'm not going to give a lot away, but there's a lot more to Claire,” Woods said. “And I think by the end, especially with our interpretation and what I'm bringing to it, I think people are going to see another side of the story, and Stuart's doing an excellent job allowing both Hayden and myself to bring a lot of our personal experience and a lot of our personalities to the character.”

Woods said performing the role during her current season of life has allowed her to bring more empathy and emotional depth to the character than she could have years ago.

“Now I completely understand it,” she said. “So it's been kind of a healing journey for me; for young Kate to come full circle and do this in my way.”

That growth, she said, is closely tied to her 14-year mentorship with Rogers. Having effectively grown up in his studio, she did not hesitate one bit when he approached her with the opportunity in Proof. Their relationship has deepened into a kind of shorthand.

“When he gives me direction or gives me a note, he doesn't have to say a lot anymore,” Woods said. “It's understood. It's unspoken.”

The production’s themes have also echoed Woods’ life offstage. As she prepares for marriage and a name change from Kate Spare to Kate Woods, she said the play has mirrored her own season of transition. Claire is engaged in the play, and Woods said that parallel has allowed her to channel the stress and emotion of wedding planning directly into the work.

“I will say that's been a fun parallel because I'm going, ‘okay, well, it's fine’,” she said. “When I'm getting stressed about what's happening out here, it's fine. I'll just put it right back into the work.”

She also said the play’s focus on sisters has overlapped with her own reflections on family, particularly her relationship with her older sister.

“So my life and this play are getting a little bit blurred at the moment,” she said. “...But it's been very fun… It's a busy time, but I'm happy to be doing all of this.”

The overlap extends to her evolving identity. Woods said becoming Kate Woods represents more than a change in last name. She described it as an “energy shift” — a way of shedding something old and stepping more fully into the next phase of her life and career.

“It's not like I've changed my whole personality or anything,” Woods said. “I'm still me; I just needed to step into the next phase to level up. And this play is leveling me up.”

Being around what she described as a legacy family has also been meaningful, she said, especially as every member of the cast continues to grow under Rogers’ direction, all working towards a common goal of something bigger.

“All of us have become very, very close, but we've also realized that this isn't just for us,” she said, referencing the show’s beneficiary, the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

“We've taken ego and the actor thing out of it… Once you take yourself out of it, and kind of see the big picture of what this really is for, then it removes any sense of anxiety or nervousness about trying to nail things and get it right,” Woods said.

For Woods, that growth is the heart of the experience — in her craft, in her relationships and in her sense of self. She said the role arrived at exactly the right time, when art and life were ready to meet.

“Sometimes the work aligns, the timing clicks, and suddenly you realize you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be,” Woods said. “No chasing, no forcing — just the universe being a little dramatic and handing me exactly what I needed.”

Author Byline: Renee N. Fernandez Schiavone

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