Kate Hawley received her undergraduate education at U.C. Berkeley and U.C.L.A. and received a certificate from U.C. Santa Cruz's Fifth Year Program in Theater Arts. She also trained at The American Conservatory Theatre's first Acting Intern Program under the direction of William Ball. For the past sixteen years she has acted in many productions at Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

In l984, with the support and encouragement of the Dickens' Project at U.C.S.C., she adapted selections from several of Charles Dickens' novels for the stage. This led to the formation of The Dickens Players, a touring troupe, in which she participated as actress, director, and writer for five years.

Her first original play, Messages, (1992) has been given Equity staged readings by the BoarsHead: Michigan Public Theater, Charlotte Repertory Theatre (where it was part of the l994 New Plays Festival), the American Conservatory Theatre, and both The Playwrights Kitchen Ensemble and the West Coast Ensemble in Los Angeles. Messages was a runner up in the Mill Mountain Theatre New Plays Competition in 1997.

Simply The Thing She Is (1993), was one of the five winners in the California Playwrights Competition sponsored by South Coast Repertory Theater. This award led to a commission for a new play by South Coast (The Oyster Bed). It has been given staged readings at The American Conservatory Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The BoarsHead Theatre, Pacific Repertory Company and The Utah Shakespearean Festival's New Plays Series.

Diva Days (1994), was premiered at The BoarsHead Michigan Public Theater in 1997. A screenplay version of this play titled Who Would You Rather Sleep With? was a semi-finalist in both the Motion Picture Academy's Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and the Fade In Screen Writing Awards. It won first place in the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition in 1998.

The Oyster Bed was completed in the Spring of 1995. It was given a staged reading at the BoarsHead in 1995. Her adaptation of The Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky was premiered at Shakespeare Santa Cruz in 1997.

Children's plays include musical adaptations of Hansel and Gretel, The Princess and the Pea, and an original musical, Diva Dog. Her verse adaptation of Thomas Lodge's pastoral romance Rosalynde was produced by U. C. Santa Cruz as a touring show in 1996.

In 1998 she completed a full length musical version of Cinderella rooted in the English "Pantomime" tradition. It will premiere at Shakespeare Santa Cruz in winter 1999.