JoanneBrokaw.com
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Events
  • Work with me
  • Contact
Picture
The author, as a first grader.
Picture
The author, as Carol Burnett
Picture
Lucy, a chicken.

About The Author

Author, performer, and teaching artist Joanne Brokaw knows a thing or two about anxiety. Despite a host of accomplishments, including two decades as an award-winning freelance writer and humor columnist, she spent a lifetime plagued by fear, self-doubt, and a chronic case of paralysis by analysis.

But for her 50th birthday, she attended an improv class and life changed forever - and she has been exploring, creating, and sharing what's she learned ever since. Through workshops, classes, and interactive creative experiences, she's
helped countless people discover their inner artist by encouraging them to take risks, celebrate mistakes, and focus on the process, not the product. With a contagious passion for creativity and a gift for inspiring others, Joanne encourages people of all ages to discover the joy of self-expression.

Joanne hails from Rochester, NY, where she is active in the local art and theater community. She's the host of the Exquisite Collaboration Project, which brings people from around the world together to create poetry using a technique called the exquisite corpse. Her second book, "Suddenly Stardust: A Memoir (Of Sorts) About Fear, Freedom & Improv" (Wordcrafts Press), is a quirky recounting of how improvisational theater changed her life.

Joanne is member of The Applied Improvisation Network and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, where she serves on the board at Contest Director.

*   *   *   *   *   *

RECENT MEDIA/PRESS
  •  Local writer uses improv skills to overcome fear, Good Day Rochester, Fox Rochester, April 21, 2021
  • Virtual arts as the new normal, and Brokaw's Exquisite Quarantine Poems, Jeff Spevak, WXXI/City Newspaper, April 29, 2020 (includes audio of poems being read)
  • "All In With Pauline Hawkins" podcast, January 26, 2020
  • What Can't Every Night Be Like Fringe Fest? audio featuring the Ask Us Anything Booth, Jeff Spevak, WXXI, September 18, 2019
  • Interview with FOX Rochester's Michael Schwartz at the Ask Us Anything Booth during the Rochester Fringe Festival (please note: Sara and I are in character), September 16, 2019
  • Appearance on the Justin Reilly Show, with Sara Moore, WAYO FM, August 25, 2019
  • Book review, Lori B Duff, August 2019
  • Humor Writer of the Month, Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, August, 2019
  • Appearance on The Last Word, hosted by Chris Fanning, WAYO FM, May 15, 2019
  • WXXI's Jeff Spevak visits the Ask Us Anything Booth, September 2018
  • CITY Newspaper Critic's Pick (Ask Us Anything Booth), James Brown, September 5, 2018

SOME VIDEO/TV
  • "Plunged"; writer; Shut Up Mom productions 48 Hour Film Project, 2021
  • Sprint Accessibility promotional video
  • Stand up comedy debut at the Firehouse Saloon
  • Village Idiots' Improv 48 Hour Film Project movie short, "Therapy"
  • "Midtown", the improvised cop comedy, available on Amazon.com, (season 1, episode "Powerball")

AWARDS/HONORS
  • 2019, Humor Writer of the Month, Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop
  • 2017 Gates Chili High School Hall of Fame inductee
  • 2016 Third Place Higher Goals Award,  Evangelical Press Association, Humor category
  • 2015 First Place Higher Goals Award, Evangelical Press Association, Humor category
  • 2015 Spirit of St. Davids Award, St. David's Christian Writing Conference
  • 2010 First Place Higher Goals Award,  Evangelical Press Association, for her Gospel Soundcheck blog at Beliefnet.com, which was cited by national media outlets including ABCNews.com, The LA Times, and MTV.com
  • 2008 Excellence in Writing Award from the Ozarks Christian News
  • 2004 Fourth Place Higher Goals Award, Evangelical Press Association, Freelance Article

A few improv and stage productions of note:
  • "Catharsis Time" storytelling show; Rochester Fringe Festival, 2022, 2023
  • "Steppin' Out" (in the role of Dorothy; Out Of Pocket Productions, 2022)
  • "Placebo" (in the role of Mary; Out Of Pocket Productions, 2022)
  • "We Are Easily Amused (and we hope you are, too!)" (Rochester Fringe Festival, 2019)
  • "A Happy Accident's Dating Show" (improv; Rochester Fringe Festival, 2019)
  • Ask Us Anything Booth (improv; Rochester Fringe Festival, 2018, 2019)
  • "Fringe Gardens" (Rochester Fringe Festival, 2018)
  • "Placebo" (in the role of Mary; Hourglass Play Reading Series, November 2017)
  • "Big Knockers" (Rochester Fringe Festival, 2017)
  • “The Importance of Being Earnest" (WallByrd Productions, 2017)
  • "This Last Tempest" (The Shakespeare Company of Rochester, 2016)
  • Dashboard Dramas III "Interforometry" (Rochester Fringe Festival, 2016)





Web Hosting by IPOWER
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Events
  • Work with me
  • Contact