There aren’t many bars or trendy locations that generate a lively nightlife and offer comedic, academic venues, where you can both learn and drink. Caveat, differs from many speakeasies and performance spaces on the Lower East Side. Other than it’s initial cave-like appearance, you’ll find bookshelves, an intellectual atmosphere and a lot of alcohol.

The atmosphere at Caveat is unique. Co-Founder & Creative Director, Kate Downey, and her team are passionate about what they do. They want their audiences to leave a little bit smarter and a little bit drunker. “It’s intelligent nightlife,” she explains. “We are working to create new forms of entertainment that mash up science and history with comedy and music.”

Kate, Co-Founder and Creative Director. Photo Courtesy of Caveat.

Downey’s vibrant personality illuminates the conversation as she shares bits of information about her career and background in theatre and museum work. This badass Co-Founder grew up in rural Maine. She moved to Boston for college and later on, to pursue a dream she had in New York. It’s been about nine years since she’s been living in the city, and a little over one year since Caveat has been in business. “I always knew I would end up in the city doing some kind of theatre and entertainment work,” she shares. Downey works closely with her team, which is mostly composed of women, and hosts a range of productions from comedy to science talks, trivia, podcasts, and so much more.

From being an Assistant Director at Cherry Lane Theatre to a Creative Lead at Museum Hack, Downey has taken on multiple roles, perfecting her craft over time. She was and still is immersed in the industry of arts and performance.

Museum Hack has especially played a major role in her career. “ [Museum Hack] does renegade museum tours of the Metropolitan Museum and The Museum of Natural History,” she begins. “I was writing a lot of tours [and] created [one] called The Badass Bitches Tour of the Met.” They were a startup and when Downey began working there.

She reminisces a few of the happy memories she had, as the company expanded and grew over the years. “Leaving Museum Hack was a hard decision because I had loved doing those tours and working with those people,” she says. “It was through Museum Hack that I kind of discovered my love of science and figured out how I like to build events and how I like to talk about very complex, scientific ideas.”

It was time for Downey to move on to something new -- and that’s exactly what she did. After Museum Hack she joined her Co-Founder Ben Lillie, in starting Caveat. However, this was not the first time that she founded a business -- specifically, startup theatre companies. “I love starting new things and creating new ways for people to build things creatively,” she emphasizes.

CAVEAT

Once a week she meets with a team of six producers including her and Ben to go over shows, discuss feedback or go over any challenges that might come up. Her motivation, determination and inspiration are apparent when she speaks about an average day at Caveat. “We all try to problem solve for each other and offer solutions [to] get through the hard parts,” she mentions. At the end of a long day, there is one thing that Downey excitedly looks forward to. “I get to grab a beer, sit, learn and watch these shows,” she exclaims.

Learning something new can be a little mysterious sometimes. Downey recognizes The Bell House, in Brooklyn for their Secret Science Club. “That’s one of the OG’s of what we’re calling intelligent nightlife now,” she says. There are few events that take on this trend of scientific conversations and intellectual nightlife nowadays. What makes Caveat different from the rest is how Downey and her team encourage people to get involved by pitching ideas in addition to the shows that they produce and put on for their audiences.

WOMEN AT CAVEAT

Downey re-imaged the average night scene and science-based social space. She expresses how most of the venues she’s seen and heard of are run predominately by men, and have been for many years. “I’m really happy and excited to have a space that is majority women run and I think avoids a lot of issues that come up in other clubs,” she says. “We have a bunch of shows are specifically geared towards women.” They include, Yeah She Did, where “kickass women” share the stories of others within their industries that have inspired them and didn’t receive proper recognition. In October, they had a themed show called Witches Get Stuff Done. They tell the stories of women who were at one point in history accused of witchcraft for being the smartest or the most outspoken. There is a diverse range of entertainment offered.

What are they planning next?

In the years ahead, Downey and her team would like to make performances at Caveat available for everyone. “The big thing that we want is eventually [developing our] shows in to TV shows, podcasts, video specials,” she says. “ I would love to be able to [get] people access to this the same way [they] can watch TED Talks.” Whether it is on platforms like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, she’d like to have Caveat specials. In the meantime, they are going to keep developing and experimenting with shows, gathering more talent and giving talented performers a place and platform to build their career.