I'm an Artist with Christy Brooks

Meet Christy Brooks

Christy Brooks M.F.A. is a theater educator, director, and visual artist with a career that spans more than 15 years. Her work bridges stage and studio, blending performance, design, and visual storytelling into experiences that bring communities together.

In rural Pennsylvania, where access to the performing arts was scarce, Christy founded Theatre Works LLC. For eight years, she created theater opportunities in the region by writing curriculum, implementing and teaching after-school theatre arts programming for local schools, and producing a community Christmas play that grew from just 10 participants to over 100. Through this work, participants of all ages learned acting, lighting, set design, and costuming, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit organizations in their community.

Her work soon expanded into larger stages. Partnering with the York Symphony Orchestra through the Appell Center for the Performing Arts, Christy wrote an original story and collaborated directly with the orchestra to create sound effects that brought it to life. The program toured Pennsylvania, reaching more than 7,000 students and introducing young audiences to the possibilities of storytelling through theater and music.

Christy is also a visual artist whose practice centers on found objects and assemblage. She values the tactile process of building with her hands and encourages students to see how materials can be transformed into something entirely new. For her, collaboration and process art are at the heart of creativity—watching how an idea begins as one thing and evolves into something unexpected.

After relocating to Maryland, Christy has worked as a teacher artist with Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, and city high schools. This fall, she joins Chesapeake Arts Center as the instructor for our brand-new stagecraft classes: Stagecraft Workshop: Coral Creators and Stagecraft Workshop: Deep Sea Designs! Students ages 10–18 will dive into theatre set and prop design by creating coral reefs and ocean-inspired scenery for The Rainbow Fish Mini Musical Theatre and Disney’s Finding Nemo Kids! productions. Using found materials, students will learn hands-on skills in painting, building, and stage design while experiencing the thrill of seeing their creations come to life on stage.

Christy is excited to meet her new students and looks forward to learning from them as much as she teaches. For her, every class is about collaboration, creativity, and discovering the unexpected in the process.

I’m an Artist at CAC.