She's The Queen Of The World!
By Jill-Duff Hoppes
Katie Thayer, a Central Florida actor and playwright, has been obsessed with the Titanic since she was a child.
The Orlando resident, now 34, vividly remembers reading about the doomed passenger liner in the second grade when her class was studying famous disasters. The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from England to the United States. More than 1,500 souls perished in the tragedy, with just over 700 passengers and crew members surviving. The sinking riveted the world at the time and continues to do so today.
Young Katie’s preoccupation with the Titanic intensified even more with the 1997 release of James Cameron’s movie Titanic. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, the film became a pop culture phenomenon and won 11 Academy Awards the following year.
“I’m not interested in the Titanic because she was a big ship that sank – I’m interested in the story,” says Katie. “And the things that fascinate me most are the passenger stories.”
Over the years, Katie has transformed from a wide-eyed student of the tragedy into something of a local expert on the subject. She works as a historian and artifacts specialist at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Orlando and performs at the tourist attraction’s dinner gala, an immersive theatrical experience.
Katie has watched Cameron’s epic film – which mixes romance and disaster – about nine times, more than any other movie she has seen. Recently, Katie put those Titanic screenings to good use as a performer, herself. At the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival in May, she starred in a one-woman parody of the movie, boiling the film’s three-plus hours down to a hilarious, fast-paced show that runs just under an hour.
“I’m such a Titanic nerd,” says Katie, who masterfully used a collection of wigs and props to bring her show to life. “It was really great to bring such a big part of my life and interests into my show.”
Her Heart Will Go On
A native of the Sunshine State, Katie was born in South Florida and raised in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area. She earned a bachelor’s degree in 2013 at the University of Central Florida, majoring in theater (with a specialization in acting) and minoring in creative writing.
“I’m such a Titanic
nerd. It was really great
to bring such a big part of
my life and interests into
my show.”
In addition to working at the Titanic attraction, Katie regularly performs at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows and gives VIP tours at Universal Orlando Resort. She has done improv shows with SAK Comedy Lab and is a frequent performer at Orlando Fringe where her alter-ego, Bikini Katie, is a familiar face (and figure). As Bikini Katie, she walks around the festival wearing a retro-style polka dot swimsuit selling advertising space for shows on her body.
Katie is also a founding member of Whiskey Theatre Factory, which celebrates emerging, untapped, and historically excluded voices in Orlando. And, several of her short plays have been produced by Playwrights’ Round Table, which develops original theatrical works in Central Florida.
A promo poster for Katie’s very funny, one-woman parody of the movie, Titanic
In addition, Katie is a big proponent of arts education for kids having taught improv and theater camps for SAK and Breakthrough Theatre Company. She has also worked at Congregation of Reform Judaism (CRJ) where she was a drama instructor for about a decade.
Katie, who is Jewish on her mother’s side, says Judaism didn’t play a major role in her upbringing in part because her mom converted to Christianity. Until Katie joined the CRJ staff, most of what she knew about Judaism was gleaned from her grandmother – who was more culturally Jewish than religious.
“I’m your friendly neighborhood cashew; half Catholic, half Jewish,” jokes Katie. “Teaching at CRJ was a really interesting chance to start to discover and experience this big part of my family heritage.”
Katie, who began writing her Titanic parody in 2019, hopes to tour the show in the summer of 2024. She had originally intended to perform it in 2020, but the pandemic sidelined those plans. Ultimately, Katie decided that 2023 was the ideal time to finally produce the show because the movie had recently enjoyed a re-release to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
“Every few years, Titanic fever kind of pops up,” she says, adding that new generations continue to be enthralled by this chapter of history. “Being at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit for six years, it’s fascinating to see that a lot of kids are very genuinely interested. They’ve learned about it in school, and they want to know more.”
Adult Katie remains just as transfixed by the Titanic as her younger self was, learning something new every week.
“I like a good story,” she says, and the Titanic certainly delivers. “You’ve got the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor, all very literally in the same boat. Or lifeboats, in this case.”