Pogue, Kate Emery: - A native of Evanston, Illinois, Kate Pogue received her undergraduate degree in Theatre from Northwestern University and her master's from the University of Minnesota. She was the founder of the Drama program at Houston Community College where she taught for over twenty years. During this time she was the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare by the Book Festival in Fort Bend County, Texas, and a founder, Artistic Director, and Resident Librettist for Opera To Go, the educational outreach performance company for Houston Grand Opera. She has directed over twenty Shakespeare plays at companies including Shakespeare by the Book, Houston Shakespeare Festival, and Summer Shakespeare at Notre Dame. As a librettist she has had commissions from Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Texas Opera Theatre, Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Symphony. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Recently retired from the University of Houston Downtown, she is currently a freelance playwright, librettist and stage director living in Houston. Her book entitled Shakespeare's Friends was published in January 2006 and Shakespeare's Family in January 2008. Shakespeare's Figures of Speech and Shakespeare's Education soon followed. Her play Freedom Train, a story about the underground railroad, was published by Encore Performance Publishing in January 2009. She is married to Bill Pogue and has two children and three grandchildren.