Kim Katzberg ’09 Lands Mercury Store Project Weeks Residency

Theatre Acting alum Kim Katzberg ’09 has locked in a Mercury Store Project Weeks Residency from May 12 to May 16, 2025. The Mercury Store is a Brooklyn-based talent incubator dedicated to providing room for theatre artists to “draft in three dimensions.”

With four studios spread over 16,000 feet in a onetime metal foundry, the Mercury Store’s Project Weeks offers established theatre artists living in New York City a lab space and resources to workshop projects still in early development. For her residency, Katzberg is receiving a studio for the week, an artist’s fee, a budget for production materials and collaborators, and the aid of a stage manager and intimacy director. 

Katzberg first learned of the residency through fellow Acting alum Nadia Sepsenwol ’09, a resident of Mercury Store in 2021, and was immediately impressed by the level of talent associated with the program. “I looked at the roster of Lead Artists on Mercury Store’s website and thought, ‘this is next level.’”

Despite the program's closed application process (the residency is invitation-only) Katzberg decided to introduce herself to the team at Mercury Store. A few months later, she was invited for an interview. “It was a lesson in being assertive, asking for what I want,” recalled Katzberg.

In the residency, Katzberg will be developing her project Horse and the Feminist Satanic Church, described as a “lurid, gothic, comedic solo performance…dunked in an emerald-acid aesthetic.”

The work in progress follows the titular Horse (a recovering addict), as she breaks up with her brother (Beelzebub, aka Satan) and teams up with her sister (Unicorn, a sexual assault survivor) to form their own Feminist Satanic Church. Together, the sisters “transform their shared trauma into virtuosic performance pieces.”

Fueled by filmic inspirations (Katzberg is also a screenwriter) as diverse as David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), the supernatural satire explores, “what results when women subvert Satan, reimagining the religion through a woman-centered lens.”  

Opposed to table reads, the program encourages artists to develop their ideas in a physical space, an ethos perfect for Katzberg’s unique process. “I start with myself, working on my feet embodying the characters,” said Katzberg. She plans to develop the project for five actors, but for now, it’s a one-woman show. 

Even so, Katzberg won’t be going it alone. Joining her in the development process is her collaborator and fellow Theatre alum Alicia Dhyana House ’09, helping direct the work and grow the project from its current form.

They’ll also be joined by a “custom made shag green carpet” which will cover the studio, “wall-to-wall.” The unique set dressing, purchased with funds from the program, was one of the key elements in Katzberg’s minimalist design. The set also features a lime green telephone, replete with extendable cord, which Horse will surely get tangled in as her calls grow increasingly high strung and bizarre.

“The intention is to work boldly, unapologetically and push myself beyond my perceived limits,” said Katzberg. With the support of Mercury Store, she’s seizing the opportunity and excited for the challenge ahead. “I’m scared, thrilled, and incredibly grateful.”

See the full list of Project Weeks’ upcoming artists here.