In elementary school, sixth-grader Katharine sang Mariah Carey's Hero even though she was extremely nervous to sing on stage. But she had a good role model, as she would go to the shows her mother starred in, including Showboat and Man of La Mancha. Even though her mother was a voice teacher, Katharine and her sister enrolled in dance classes instead of taking singing lessons. My mom wanted my vocal talent to develop naturally and for me to discover my voice on my own. At 14, Katharine visited New York City with her family and saw her first musicals on Broadway: Chicago and Les Miserables. Katharine never lost the desire to perform, and received encouragement from her teachers at Notre Dame High School. After graduation, she enrolled at Boston Conservatory. Away from family and home, Katharine grew up quickly. She studied acting and dance and on breaks came home to attend the California State Summer School for the Arts. Katharine was in her sophomore year of college when she signed with a small agency. She went out on auditions but didn't find work until she was signed for an MTV pilot. It didn't sell, she says, but all of the auditions and pounding the pavement were good experiences for me. In 2004, Katharine enrolled in the Broadway Theatre Project, a summer arts program in Tampa, Florida, headed up by Ann Reinking. Guest lecturers included Julie Andrews and Ben Vereen. As the calendar turned over to 2005, Katharine made a New Year's resolution to open the trades and audition for the first musical production she found. I opened Backstage West and found an audition for Annie Get Your Gun. She even recognized the director's name because she had sung in his church. Then, the night before the audition, she had a change of heart and decided to go back to school instead. She called the director to let him know she wasn't going to show up for the ensemble audition. He told me to come in anyway, because he hadn't found an Annie yet. It was a real lesson in how we limit ourselves I wasn't even thinking about the lead. Katharine won the role and followed it with a starring role in a musical version of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. By the summer of 2005, Katharine was in a workshop for a Las Vegas-bound musical featuring songs of the 80s. Friends who were in the show with me kept telling me I should audition for American Idol. Katharine had watched the first two seasons of the series, and at her friends urging, went to the show's website for the first time. She discovered auditions were being held in San Francisco and drove up to the Bay Area with a friend. I had no idea what I was going to sing for my audition, Katharine laughs. Five minutes before I was supposed to sing, my friend asked me which song I was going to perform and I said I don't know.