Cat Brooks’ In Residence at UC Berkeley
Performer, Organizer & Activist
In Residence | UC Berkeley
October 16-22, 2023
Get Tickets & Learn More:
https://tdps.berkeley.edu/catbrooks
Public Events
Performances of ‘Tasha
THURSDAY–FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19–21
Durham Studio Theater • Dwinelle Hall
Free for Berkeley Students • $35 General Admission
Written and performed by Cat Brooks, this one-woman show tells the story of Natasha McKenna who died in 2015 at age 37 while in police custody in Fairfax, VA.
Cat Brooks in Conversation with Margo Hall
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 4pm–5:30pm
650 Social Sciences Building Free • No Reservation Required
Cat Brooks and longtime collaborator Margo Hall (performer, theater-maker, and educator) will discuss their community-centered artistic practices.
White Supremacy: Black Trauma & Healing Justice
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1pm–3pm
Bancroft Dance Studio • 2401 Bancroft Way Free for Berkeley Students • By Donation for Guests
Cat Brooks and Alecia Harger will share how they utilize research, art, and Healing Justice modalities to examine the role trauma plays in the lives of Black people in America, and explore what is necessary for the transmutation of that trauma into healing and action
About Cat Brooks:
Cat Brooks has been confidently moving across stages and screens for 30 years. In addition to being a savvy and intelligent actor, she is funny and witty, vulnerable and strong—able to be both edgy and immediately relatable. A consummate performer and passionate speaker, Brooks has also made a name for herself as an activist and community leader, able to reach and inspire people with her powerful voice and strong, grounded presence.
Brooks played a central role in the struggle for justice for Oscar Grant and is the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project whose mission is to rapidly respond to—and eradicate—police terror in communities of color. APTP has successfully developed a model for first response to police violence that is currently being replicated across the state of California, and the country. Additionally APTP is a pioneer in developing alternative response models to community crisis and runs Mental Health First (MH1)—Oakland and Sacramento’s only abolitionist non 9-1-1 response to mental health crisis, intimate partner violence and substance abuse.
Brooks trained at the Royal National Theater Studio in London. Notable roles include Lady Macbeth at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Ruth in Raisin in the Sun, and starring in the one-woman show ‘Tasha that she wrote about the in-custody murder of Natasha McKenna. Brooks has been nominated for Best Featured Actress by the Bay Area Theater Circle Critics and ‘Tasha won Best of The SF Fringe in 2017.
Brooks also hosts the radio show Law & Disorder on KPFA, is a resident playwright and actress with The Lower Bottom Playaz in Oakland and 3Girls Theatre in San Francisco, is one of the Black Friday 14—a group of Black activists who locked down the West Oakland BART station on Black Friday in 2014, is a 2021-2024 Leading Edge Fellow, and was the runner-up in Oakland’s 2018 mayoral election, facing incumbent Libby Schaaf.
Learn more at CatBrooks.org
