Born in Kent, England, she attended both Bennington College in America and the Guildhall School of Music, in London, as well as the National Opera Studio.
Her first music theatre piece, the regina monologues, was commissioned by the Covent Garden Festival in 2001, and starred, in respective productions, Penelope Keith, Janet Suzman and Susannah York.
Her most recent play, Eat This, was produced in a disused brewery and revived in the autumn of 2011 with the addition of an accompanying piece, Drink That.
In 2007, she commissioned and directed The Finnish Prisoner, a new opera from the composer Orlando Gough and librettist Stephen Plaice.
In 2005 and 2007, Waters worked with The Samling Foundation leading a large-scale education project at the Sage Gateshead Music Centre on Mozart’s Così fan tutte (2005) and Don Giovanni (2007), directed by Sir Thomas Allen and culminating in the creation and performance of youth versions of the two operas.