Portrait of Mimi Katano

Mimi Katano

Jack Straw teaching artist Mimi Katano (she/her) is a bilingual, bicultural theatre artist in Seattle. Her directing credits include Seattle Opera (School Tour), Seattle Shakespeare Company, 5th Avenue Theatre (ETC Tour), Seattle Public Theatre, Centerstage Theatre, Live Girls! Theatre, 14/48 Projects, Boston’s Wheelock Family Theatre, and Youth Theatre Northwest, where she served as the Executive Artistic Director for over two decades. Mimi is a two-time Gregory Awards nominee for Outstanding Direction, and the production of Vietgone, which she directed in 2024, received Outstanding Production of the Year. Mimi is the Founding Artistic Director of Za Trans-Pacific Productions (ztpproductions.com), which connects her native country of Japan and the US through theatre.

Education Projects
Daniel and students in a studio control room at a computer. Mimi and another student, wearing headphones, on the other side of a large window.

McDonald Elementary: The Poets of Tomorrow 2026 READ MORE >

Gabriella leans over a table where two students are seated, looking at their work.

Green Lake Poetry and Song 2026 READ MORE >