Writer, Films for the People
Artivist Cat Brooks has spent her life working to end unjust systems built to sustain the privileges of white supremacy and the violence of the status quo. She was only 8 years old when her father’s struggle with substance abuse landed him in a Nevada Correctional Facility, which is also the year she fell in love with theater. Training and performances sustained her throughout her school years and led her toward a Bachelor’s Degree in theater from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. After graduation, she studied briefly with the National Royal Studio in London before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her dream to become an actress. Notable theatrical accomplishments include performing Lady Macbeth at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a leading role in the seven-year tour of Terrance McNally’s Corpus Christi and having her one-woman show, Tasha, about the 2015 in-custody murder of Natasha McKenna in the Fairfax County Jail, winning several awards including Best Of at the San Francisco Fringe in 2017. Cat is the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) whose mission is to rapidly respond to and ultimately eradicate state violence in communities of color. With APTP she shepherded the development of a “First Responders” process which provides resources and training for a rapid community-based response to police violence and launched MH First in Sacramento and Oakland—a non-9-1-1 response to mental health crisis. She is an internationally recognized figure in the fight to reimagine and transform how public safety is defined and implemented. Her artivist work has been featured at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and at the Oakland Museum. She is a resident actress, playwright, and program director with 3 Girls Theater in San Francisco and with Tha Lower Bottom Playaz, the oldest Black troupe in Oakland, CA, co-host of KPFA’s morning show UpFront, and a regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2021, Cat was awarded both Rosenberg Leading Edge and Levi Strauss Pioneers for Justice Fellowships. She lives in West Oakland with her daughter Jadyn and life partner Brett.