Brooke O’Harra (born 1973, Salem, Oregon; lives in Philadelphia, PA) is a professional theater director and artist. O’Harra’s current projects include Be Holding, co-created with poet Ross Gay, composer Tyshawn Sorey, and Yarn/Wire. In addition, O’Harra and Sharon Hayes created Echo Chamber, a performance using personal and found audio cassette tapes. Time Passes, an 8-hour performance with Hayes and their daughter, uses the book-on-tape recording of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse as its spine. Brooke co-founded the NYC based company Theater of a Two-headed Calf in 1999. She also conceived, directed, wrote for, and performed in The Dyke Division’s live serial drama Room for Cream at La Mama, ETC (2008–2010) and the New Museum (2017). O’Harra’s research and performance work I am Bleeding All Over the Place: Studies in directing or nine encounters between me and you was performed in NYC and Philadelphia and culminated in a book of essays titled Who Is In the Room? (Routledge Performance Series, 2025).
For the 59th Carnegie International, Brooke O’Harra, in collaboration with Ross Gay, Tyshawn Sorey, and Yarn/Wire, will present Be Holding at the Thelma Lovette YMCA at 7:30 p.m. on May 2 and 3.
