ABOUT
ORIGIN STORY
Khanisha, here! I’m the daughter of a Black Panther and a white mother whose family invented Bubble Wrap and brought Piggly Wiggly to the Midwest. The most dramatic moments you can find on tv are just a Tuesday in my house. My mother is a white lady in a dashiki -- still a total suburbanite -- a walking character, really. My dad spent a year of his life on the run from the FBI, accidentally robbed a bank, and ultimately became a career criminal. When I was working on a script I called him and asked if he knew how a person could disappear. He said, “I can’t talk about this on the phone. I’ll be right over.” He was about to build me a whole new life.
So, story found me. I make work where cultures collide. You’ll know it’s mine because I slide slapstick right next to heartbreak.
BIO
Khanisha’s work and her outrageous family history landed her writing opportunities with K&L Productions (Kay Cannon & Laverne McKinnon), as well as Julie Hébert (The Man in the High Castle), and Electric Shepherd Productions (stewards for the adaptations of the Philip K. Dick library). She was also a Fox Fellow, and her series Sancho was a semifinalist at the Austin Film Festival and is being produced by Max Arciniega (Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul) and Alonso Alvarez (Snowfall). She’s written video games for Probably Monsters (the company founded by the creators of Halo and Destiny), and for Episodes. Her solo show Joy Rebel, directed by Obie Award winner Lou Bellamy, received critical acclaim and was chosen as a DC Metro Staff favorite for 2019. Her plays have been commissioned by Penumbra Theatre, 1st Stage, and 2nd Story.
She was a featured storyteller on NPR’s The Dinner Party. Along with Lena Waithe, and was named one of 18 Black Women We Think Are Phenomenal by Mater Mea Magazine. American Theatre Magazine named her in their Role Call series as one of the 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know. Broadway World named her Best Director for The Bluest Eye, which also won Best Production. Her production of Yellowman is currently nominated for 7 OC Theatre Guild Awards.
After playing 26 Characters in Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, Broadway World said about her, “Obviously, I can only speak of Foster. She is breathtakingly good. Every character she embodied, whatever the accent, age, race or gender, comes across as real and distinct.” Her film acting debut, Chicago Boricua, was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival.
The Star Tribune called her writing “…risible and heartbreaking…”, the Compendium said she “…oozes charisma and charm, blinking in an instant between tremendous sadness and effervescent joy.” They added that her writing is “…lush and descriptive bearing hallmarks of Roxanne Gay, Lindy West, and Tracy K. Smith”, and the D.C. Metro said her work “comes from the rebellious joy of making others laugh so their days are not so dark. So they and anyone can enjoy laughter.”
If you’d like to enjoy a laugh, be sure to ask her about that time she broke onto the Queen of England’s land and got shot at, or when her sister — who is a legit Nigerian princess — showed up in Lagos two days late for her crowning ceremony, or about how she almost became a professional clown.