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Gracia is a Chicana writer and DREAMer. To draw attention to her work but not her undocumented status, Gracia convinces her white and US-born best friend Mariza to perform her poetry. When Gracia’s words launch Mariza into gaining a following as a Latinx artist and activist, their friendship is tested by issues of privilege and cultural appropriation. Part play, part poetry slam, “Brown Face” follows a group of college students as they navigate their identities in the competitive world of spoken word poetry.
Carissa Atallah is an award-winning Southern California playwright. Her debut play BROWN FACE was the 2022 recipient of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award presented by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. BROWN FACE also achieved Honorable Mention Status in the Playwright Foundation’s 45th Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Atallah was a 2023 Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, supported by the Tennessee Williams estate, where she worked under the mentorship of David Adjmi and Talene Monahon. In 2024, she became a fellow in the Candela Fellowship, a flagship program dedicated to fostering theater education for emerging playwrights of Latin American and Caribbean heritage held at the Dramatists Guild of America. Additionally, she is a two-time semi-finalist for The Future of Playwriting Prize, presented by Ucross and The Blank Theatre.