Downtown: Kate Alvarez's love of music and theater has brought her to Abilene's center stage

Kate Alvarez was born with a song in her heart.

Alvarez, Downtown Coordinator for the City of Abilene, started singing in elementary school.

"I had a really amazing choir teacher who just sort of saw a gift and was extremely great at helping me cultivate it," she said.

As she moved from city to city with her family throughout her first 18 years of education, that love of performing followed her.

"You can always find a group of theater or music kids in whatever school you're going to," said Alvarez.

That led her to become a Crescent Player for the Dallas Children's Theatre in Dallas at 12 years old.

"And then, as I bopped around into Austin and then into New Mexico, I just kept doing it," she said.

Winging It

When it came time to go to college, Alvarez found a small liberal arts college and decided to pursue her theater dreams.

"That's when I decided I didn't want to be an actress for the rest of my life," she said. "It wasn't how I wanted to pay all the bills."

But even though that didn't end up being her professional career, she has fond memories of the roles she's played, including the lead in "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All," along with roles in Shakespeare's "12th Night," "Hello, Dolly," and more.

When she got to Abilene, she did community theater but soon found a home singing at the Abilene Country Club under the wing of Dora Nell Finch, a renowned piano player and her eponymous Big Band-style orchestra.

"I became what is called in those big bands the 'girl singer,'" she said. "And that fills that need, that craft, that artistic 'something' I think we all innately need in our lives."

Now, 21 years later, she's still doing it, long after Finch herself passed and others have stepped away.

"We realized the other day that I'm actually the only constant," she said. The orchestra is now called "Fanfare" to keep the distinctive "F" logo on its bandstands.

"We play the country club now a handful of times a year, and then we're booked for private parties," she said. Because of its style, the group also fits in well with Air Force functions.

It only recently added music from the 1960s and 1970s to its catalog, previously drawing exclusively from the 20s to the 40s.

Stage Craft

Alvarez said she's drawn to the stage because "It's a way to not be part of the crowd," she said. When you're brand new (in a community), you can either always be the new person sort of looming at the sides, or you can decide to be intentionally unique - if you stand out, you don't have to worry if you're fitting in."

"Now, it's not so much about being able to perform," she said of her continued work with Fanfare. "I get to play with extremely talented musicians for three hours, stand in one space, and watch magic happen. That's really what drives me."

When listening to music away from the stage, Alvarez loves selections from musical theater.

"It's raw, it's emotional, and it literally tells a story," she said.

Finding Home

Alvarez has lived in Abilene for 23 years and married for 18, settling down in what was her 14th place of residence.

"That was pretty exciting to come to a place and plant some roots," she said.

After graduating from Stephens, she came to Abilene because her mother, Terri Burke, was editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, and her father, Michael Burke, managed Embassy Suites, now the MCM Elegante.

Her daughter, Ella, 17, reflects her love of music, named after Jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, one of Alvarez's icons.

Her new position was created in the fall of 2023 by the City and the Abilene City Council as an initiative to foster downtown revitalization, specifically the Cypress Street Improvement Project.

Her job is to serve as a liaison and communications cheerleader for the project and the downtown area during the planned upgrades, and she's becoming known as "Downtown Kate" for her ongoing role.

Alvarez, who once worked at the Paramount Theatre, has deep connections to that area.

"When I moved to Abilene, I had two part-time jobs," she said: one working with the Cultural Affairs Council to bring theater to young audiences and the other as a stagehand at the Paramount.

"I worked for the Paramount for almost five years, sometimes full-time, sometimes very part-time," she said. She found other part-time gigs to make a living until she became Marketing & Development Manager for Abilene Regional Airport, where she worked for 10 years.

After leaving the City for a bit to help open the Doubletree by Hilton Abilene Downtown Convention Center, she returned to take her current job, which she sees as a continuation of her previous experiences.

"I don't think 25 years ago, there was really a place for me to learn how to be a downtown coordinator, but it's been a sort of evolution through my professional experience that's led me here," she said.

Bright Lights, Big City

Alvarez's current work is a long way from when she was sweeping crickets off the Paramount's sidewalk in 2001 when a creeping, chirping crop of the insects swarmed the Abilene area.

The evolving face of Abilene's downtown also has traveled far - and has further to go.

Back when Alvarez moved to town, the background hum in the area was crickets.

"My 21-year-old self is bursting inside because we have so much going on downtown that our construction is affecting," she said."

It's not all easy, she said.

But once the project is completed, Alvarez expects people will love it.

"I am not naive-it's not always joyful," she said of the work needed to transform the area. "But it is a challenge in ways that I thrive in, and that's a cool thing to find. It really is 'going to be great'. "

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.