 In February 2010, Cates starred as Susan in the Lyric Theatre at the Plaza production of the Stephen Schwartz musical "Snapshots" in the Plaza District of Oklahoma City.In April 2014 she starred alongside the majority of the original cast of the off-Broadway musical comedy "The Bardy Bunch", a parody in Shakespearean style of the two television shows "The Partridge Family" and "The Brady Bunch".Cates created the role of "Woman" in the musical the shards of an honor code junkie in 2015, a role composer Blake Allen wrote specifically for her and the first role Cates performed after the birth of her daughter.