"I think empathy is such an underrated attribute in our culture, and it’s really incredibly courageous. It’s like this bold, ferocious, courageous act to empathize with someone that’s different than yourself. And to use your imagination to sit in their shoes and you to include them in your world vision. And as a result of that I think it’s a huge and necessary thing. And that’s a huge part of this film. "
Welcome Back to Nothing Shines Like Dirt Episode 44. Elise and Lesley sit down with Actor/Director Catherine Eaton. They discuss the beauty in silence, Ryan Murphy’s half foundation, and Cinderella stories do exist.
atherine is a New York-based director, writer, producer and actor. Catherine directed and co-wrote the award-winning feature film THE SOUNDING (awards listed below) starring Harris Yulin (Scarface, Place Beyond the Pines), Teddy Sears (Masters of Sex, upcoming 24:Legacy), Erin Darke (Good Girls Revolt) and Faison (reprising his role from the short), Tony-winners Danny Burstein and David Furr, and Catherine plays the role of Olivia. The feature is being produced by Eaton alongside Caitlin Gold (Lionsgate, Imagine I’m Beautiful) and Jessica Vale (NBC, Small Small Thing), composed by Grammy-winner Siddhartha Khosla (This Is Us) and was shot by David Kruta (Sundance’s Concussion, ICG Emerging Cinematographers Award) with an amazing crew. The script was short-listed for the Sundance LABs, Cinereach, and the Sloan Awards. The feature is currently on the festival circuit and is based on her short film starring Frankie Faison (The Wire, Luke Cage). She is developing two series for television, the half-hour comedy-drama ON THE OUTS (winner of the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Through Her Lens” Award) and the dramatic series HUNTING GROUND, both finalists for the Sundance Episodic Labs. Catherine has been chosen to participate in Ryan Murphy’s prestigious HALF Foundation Program. She will be shadowing on his new series Pose in late 2017. Catherine is a freelance producer for Madison Square Garden and is producing Grammy-winner Sammy James Jr’s directorial debut. She shares an Emmy Award with the team behind Bloomberg Television’s investigative report, “The Human Toll of Ethanol.” As an actor, Catherine has performed on Broadway, across the country, and on screen. Catherine’s recent stage work includes Broadway: MTC (Snow Geese with Mary Louise Parker), Carnegie Hall (Corsetless, The Bohemians); Off-Bway: Origin Theatre (Clocks and Whistles); Regional: Pittsburgh Public Theater (Electra, title role), Guthrie Theatre (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, Importance of Being Earnest, Venetian Twins, A Christmas Carol), Fulton Opera House (August: Osage County, Michael Archangel), Merrimack Rep (The Exceptionals), Irish Classical Theatre (Hedda Gabler, Moon for the Misbegotten, The Cobbler), New Jersey Rep (Child’s Guide to Innocence) and Gino DiIorio’s Reparation, which opened at Luna Stage in NJ and is moving Off-Bway in the fall of 2015 with Catherine attached. Television: “Person of Interest,” “All My Children,” “Sex and the City.” Film: LIV, The Sounding, Training Day, The Collaboration, Last Seen, Miss Bertram’s Awakening, Showers of Happiness, With or Without You. Catherine wrote and performs the solo-show, CORSETLESS, which has toured internationally and was optioned for film. Catherine studied at Cornell University and has an MFA from University of MN/Guthrie. She is on the leadership team of Film Fatales and a member of NYWIFT, SAG/AFTRA, and AEA.