ABOUT ME

Karissa is an award winning Filipino American theatre artist originally from Idaho. Now based in Chicago, she strives to bring her multicultural experience and passion for diversity to her work in acting, playwriting, producing, directing, and casting.

She serves as the Artistic Director and Co-Founder at Bramble Theatre Company and was featured in American Theatre Magazine’s “Theatre Workers You Should Know” in 2020 for her advocacy work in casting. She’s also been most recently featured in Newcity Stage's Players 50 2026: The Rising Stars and Storefront Stalwarts.

Winner of the 2023 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award and an O’Neill National Playwright Conference Finalist and Semifinalist, her plays have been developed and presented at theatres around the country, including Goodman Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, American Blues Theatre, The Gift Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Silk Road Rising, The Road Theatre Company, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, Boise Contemporary Theatre, City Theatre, Broken Nose Theatre, Avalanche Theatre, Our Perspective: Asian American Plays, and Bramble. She is member of the Dramatists Guild.

A proud SAG-AFTRA actor, her theatre credits include working at Court Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Goodman Theatre, The House Theatre of Chicago, and Renaissance Theaterworks. Television work includes Chicago Med, Chicago PD, The Big Leap, Exorcist, and Electric Dreams. She has a BA in Theatre Arts from Boise State University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she received multiple acting awards including three nominations for her acting work from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Irene Ryan Awards and represented UH at those regional competitions. She is also a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf, Class of 2019.

She and her husband Mark love to take their rescue dog Sibby out to the beach. When not in rehearsal, Karissa can usually be found watching British murder mysteries on BritBox, cooking her grandmother’s famous chicken adobo, and skulking in local bookshops.