Katie Arnstein

Katie Arnstein is a multi-award-winning writer and performer from the West Midlands. A graduate of Birmingham Conservatoire, she is widely acclaimed for her sharp, heartfelt one-woman storytelling shows, that blend feminist insight with unfiltered humour.

It’s a Girl!, her breakthrough storytelling trilogy, comprised of Bicycles and Fish, Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door, toured the UK and earned her numerous accolades including Show of the Week (VAULT Festival, twice), Pleasance Pick of VAULT, an Offie commendation, and selections in The Guardian’s Top 15 Edinburgh Shows Now Touring.

In 2023–24, Katie premiered The Long Run, a tender, hilarious, and emotionally resonant solo show about her mother’s cancer diagnosis and the kindness found through long-distance running. Opening at the New Diorama Theatre, the piece received an Offie nomination for Best Performance Piece, and praise from The Guardian, The Stage, Broadway World, and The Times for its warmth, authenticity, and refusal to shy away from difficult truths, complete with fart jokes and fruit pastilles. Katie is now adapting the story for television with the support of Snowed-In Productions. Her comedic short Wolverine Woman, featured in BBC Three’s The Break series (2023).

Katie premiered her new show Everything Will Be Alright at Lichfield Festival in 2025 and she is also working on a new play with Combination Dance, and developing her next original musical piece.

Katie was named an Associate Artist at Pleasance Theatre for whom she curated the The Future Is Worth Fighting For Festival. She has been shortlisted for the Evening Standard Future of Theatre Award (2021), the Popcorn Prize(2020), and featured in the 2021 BBC Writersroom: Coventry Voices.

Described by The Guardian as “an incredible performer… primed for greatness” and by critics as “the voice of several generations”, Katie continues to build a powerful body of work for stage and screen that is at its core thoroughly entertaining.