Catherine Hanna Schrock
Applied Theatre Practitioner

BIOGRAPHY

Catherine Hanna Schrock (she/her) is an Applied Theatre Practitioner whose work unites her roles as artist, educator, writer, and community organizer. She designs and facilitates creative programming for social engagement, community development, conflict transformation, and social justice, with an emphasis on performance-based teaching and learning across professional, educational, and community settings.

Catherine is the Co-Founder and Director of Programs at Imagine Brave Spaces (imaginebravespaces.com), an applied theatre company she launched in San Diego in 2021 alongside her creative partner, Peter Schrock. At Imagine, she serves as the primary curriculum architect for Play! Youth Development Theatre, a flagship program that integrates applied theatre, healing-centered engagement, restorative justice, trauma-informed practice, and Social Emotional Learning. Since its pilot launch with Cajon Valley Union School District, Play! has grown to serve students from TK through 12th grade across in-school, after-school, and summer formats, and now reaches schools throughout San Diego County. The curriculum spans multiple grade-band tracks, including Henever's Story (K-2nd grade), Safa's Story (3rd–6th grade), and Zion's Story (7th–12th grade), all of which Catherine wrote and directs. Imagine's Forum Theatre performances and in-class workshops have served 134 sites and more than 29,000 youth participants since 2021.

In addition to her youth work, Catherine is a sought-after trainer for adult professional development. Since 2021, she has facilitated over 60 training sessions across San Diego County in Cultural Humility, Healing-Centered Engagement, and Creative Restorative Justice, reaching more than 1,200 participants in schools, social service organizations, foster care settings, and community institutions. In 2025, she was invited to serve as the Keynote Speaker for the California Sociological Association Annual Conference.

Catherine was commissioned by the San Diego County Advisory Council on Human Trafficking Prevention to create a Forum Theatre performance for the kNOw MORE Human Trafficking Prevention curriculum. Since 2017, her Forum Theatre projects have reached over 50,000 people in San Diego County, where she is recognized as a "spectacular facilitator who handles children with extreme sensitivity and respect, and engages the audience from the moment they enter the theater" (Times of San Diego, 2020).

Her plays include Henever's Story, Safa's Story, Zion's Story, Danny's Story, Shalom Sahbity (with Simnia Singer-Sayada), Second Star to the Right (with Jack Hanna), The City (with Jamie Roach), and Qulili, as well as numerous devised youth performances through Empowerment Theatre programs with La Jolla Playhouse and Girl Scouts of San Diego. She has also worked internationally with the Global Immersion Project in Palestine and Israel, founded Arts for Life (a girls' empowerment program in Kenya), and directed Invisible Children's Teacher Exchange in Uganda.

Catherine holds a Master's Degree in Educational Theater from New York University and a BA in Sociology and International Development. She is a published poet through Cordella Magazine.