Bio
Chisa was born in Queens, New York to young, irresponsible parents on May 23rd 1980. She spent majority of her formative years under the care of a much more responsible, but chronically broke woman who was technically her godfather’s mother, but who would later—in the fine, it-takes-a-village tradition of the broken family—simply become “Ma.” Chisa grew up in the company of what seemed like hundreds of unofficially adopted brothers and sisters in Newark, New Jersey, where she excelled in school and philosophized with cockroaches about the ultimate merits of poverty. Her favorite six-legged pest, who called himself Swifty on account of his uncanny ability to elude the bottom of any shoe, once told her with a wistful chuckle, “One day, you will be able to look back and romanticize all this shit.”
That day appeared on the horizon of Chisa’s future when, at fourteen, she got a scholarship to what she thought was a boarding school. It turns out, however, that having more than one building—indeed, having a campus—does not make a boarding school (Chisa was naïve and probably should’ve read the brochures more carefully). So she moved about ten miles and a whole galaxy away from Newark to Short Hills to live with a host family comprised of a quirky, Buddhist psychologist, her then husband, a nature-loving, piano-playing Jew, their three kids, and an ancient dog named Baboo. It was a rough transition. But one which has, nevertheless, shaped Chisa and her writing for the better. She thinks.
Chisa blames her addiction to theater on her high school drama teacher, Bob Pridham, who introduced her to the plays of August Wilson, John Guare, Paula Vogel, David Mamet and Lorraine Hansberry, exposed her to the irrepressible style of Julie Taymor, explained the evolution of Greek tragedy in a way that made sense to her, and got her gears grinding over the simultaneous necessity and obsolescence of color-blind casting. (Bob, if you’re reading this: it’s all your fault.) By the time she got to Vassar, there was nothing left for her to do but major in Theater Arts. After college, Chisa taught high school Theater and English for five years. Meanwhile, she was trying—pretty unsuccessfully—to get noticed by theaters. She’d had a few readings, had a one-act produced at Vital Theater, and come thiiiiiiiis close to winning some awards… all tempests in teapots. It wasn’t until her friend Heidi hooked her up with the Lark Play Development Center that the really good stuff started happening. There, a reading of what she’s come to think of as her breakthrough play, She Like Girls, led to a workshop production, another reading, another workshop, a full-blown production, two commissions, a great agent, and a foot in the door at many a reputable theater. Not to mention a cozy spot under the enormous wings of some really cool writers like Melinda Lopez, Kia Corthron, and Tina Howe. (Ladies, if you’re reading this: you rock.)
Chisa is currently pursuing her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU and works as a teaching artist at whatever organization deems her useful. She would like to thank you for reading her bio, but encourages you to get out more if this is really how you choose to spend your free time. Maybe see a play. Maybe one of Chisa’s plays.
