Playwright Bio

Karissa Barber (she/her) is a multi-hyphenated theatre maker living in central Florida. She graduated with her MFA in directing and performance pedagogy from the University of Idaho and has her diploma in intimacy choreography from Theatrical Intimacy Education. She is fascinated with stories of real people and regularly watches documentaries or reads memoirs of people who have overcome hard things. Injustice and inequity are often themes found in her writing, challenging audiences to look at the world as a place we help make better. 

To view and read about each of Karissa's plays, click below.

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Masterwork

 A painter struggles with her identity and ability to express herself as years pass and she becomes a wife and mother. This original show by Karissa Barber follows the artist from her Bohemian studio apartment to white picket fence. Is it possible to regain something she sacrificed for the life she chose?
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The show premiered May 2017 in Central Florida.

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E120

A mother and daughter sit waiting for a visitor on their farm in Oaxaca, Mexico. Their lives will never be the same. This play explores the tension between the preservation of culture and the inevitability of change. 
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​This piece was published in Etymology Press's online June 2024 issue.

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Undesirable Island

Just a few miles from one another, 2 islands have contained secrets we struggle to fathom and contain one of our darkest fears: imprisonment without just cause. We always try to hide away are undesirables, but none have done it better than the islands of New York. We follow the stories of Winnie and Xavier as they navigate their time at Blackwell Island Lunatic Asylum and Rikers Island Jail. Though separated by time, station in life, gender, race and reason for their imprisonment, their stories are remarkably similar. Will they make it to freedom? Based on true historical accounts, Undesirable Island highlights the ongoing concern of humane treatment for marginalized communities through the lens of the past.

Karissa Barber is actively working to workshop this piece.

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The proposal for this new play was submitted to MacDowell for a residency and she is not disclosing more information about it beyond the image indicating the subject.

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Cults keep people trapped for years, yet they continue to attract new followers. There is a cult in New Zealand that mimics the Amish communities in America and is a fascinating study of human labor laws, specifically the unpaid labor of women and children.