Hungarian stage director and puppeteer. Kató Szőnyi studied at the National School of Acting and, in 1947, she became part of the Mesebarlang troupe (Cave of Tales). In 1949, she joined the Állami Bábszínház (State Puppet Theatre) as a puppeteer. She attended seminars given by Czech director and pedagogue, Jan Malík, then joined the Győr Puppet Theatre (1954-1958) as artistic director and stage director. In 1958, she returned to the Állami Bábszínház as principal stage director and contributed to the training of puppeteers.

The exceptional quality of Kató Szőnyi’s productions was recognized in Hungary and internationally and brought her several awards and honorific titles. Under her direction, the musical repertory of the Állami Bábszínház was highly regarded both in Hungary and abroad.

Among her productions are: Szentivánéji álom (1964), based on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; A fából faragott királyfi (The Wooden Prince, 1965) by Béla Bartók; Strip-tease (1966) by Sławomir Mrożek; Angyal szállt le Babilonban (An Angel Comes to Babylon, 1967) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt; A sárkány (The Dragon, 1967) by Evgeny Shvarts (Yevgeny Schwartz); A csodálatos mandarin (The Miraculous Mandarin, 1969) by Béla Bartók; A kispolgár hét főbűne (The Seven Deadly Sins, 1969) by Bertolt Brecht; A pagodák hercege (The Prince of the Pagodas, 1970) by Benjamin Britten; Háry János (1972) by Zoltán Kodály; Aventure (Adventures, 1972) by György Ligeti; Csongor és Tünde (Csongor and Tünde, 1974) by Mihály Vörösmarty; A katona története (The Soldier’s Tale, 1976) by Igor Stravinsky; Diótörő (The Nutcracker, 1978) by Tchaikovsky; and Cantata Profana (1981) by Béla Bartók.

(See Hungary.)