Catherine (Kaki) Hurley Marshall, former assistant managing director of the Annenberg Center, founder of the International Children’s Festival, and Theatre Arts Program lecturer, died August 29 in Strathmere, New Jersey. She was 94.

Ms. Marshall was born in Media, Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1945 from Penn’s College for Women and earned her master’s degree from Columbia University. Ms. Marshall began teaching at Penn in 1975 when she was hired as the assistant managing director/artistic advisor of performing arts. She served as the assistant director of Penn Players, which encompassed all student theater except Mask and Wig. When she joined the staff at the Annenberg Center, she was primarily responsible for programming, as well as being the staff person who oversaw student performing arts at Penn. In 1982, she took on a secondary role as a lecturer in the Theatre Arts Program, then in the English department. She also lectured in the College of General Studies (CGS).

In 1985, she founded the Philadelphia International Theatre Festival for Children at the Annenberg Center, later renamed the International Children’s Festival, which was the first of its kind in the country, aimed at providing Philadelphia-area families with an easy and affordable way to experience the artistry of international performance and visual arts. To establish the first festival, Ms. Marshall secured partial funding from the late Walter Annenberg; he and his wife, Leonore, came to opening night. She also chaired the festival’s board. She left Annenberg Center in 1989 and continued to teach theater arts until 1995. Ms. Marshall won the Penn Creative Spirit Award for the festival and her career in theater arts (Almanac December 13, 2011).

Outside of Penn, she served as Founding Board Chair of InterAct Theatre Company. She also served on the boards of the Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Mum Puppet Theatre, People’s Light & Theater and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. She was honored by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and with a Barrymore Lifetime Achievement Award. She received InterAct’s annual Arts & Community Award in 2000, which was subsequently named the Kaki Marshall Arts & Community Award.

According to Seth Rozin, founder and producing artistic director of InterAct, “Kaki was considered one of the country’s foremost experts on theatre for children, and advised almost every theatre in the Philadelphia region, including People’s Light, Arden Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Caravan, The Kimmel Center. She is also considered a primary mentor to numerous Penn alumni who have gone on to have successful careers in the professional theatre, including: Harold Wolpert (executive director, Signature Theatre, New York), Howard Sherman (former executive director, American Theatre Wing), Todd Haimes (producing director, Roundabout Theatre, New York), Vicki Reiss (executive director, Shubert Foundation, New York), and myself.”

She is survived by her children, Joseph “Chip” (Filomela), Catherine Hurley Bean (Richard), James Mark (Lisa Liacouras), Elizabeth Anne DiStefano, Matthew (Bonnie), and Stephen (Jill); sisters, Laine SantaMaria and Elena Brazer; grandchildren, Anne (Jeremy), Sandy (Patrick), Amy, John (Deanna), Peter, Pete, Dana (Dave), Sam, Jack, Hal, Alice, Leigh and Nick; and great-grandchildren, Charlie and Nathan.