Risa Brainin is a professor, freelance director and Founder/Artistic Director of the groundbreaking new play development program LAUNCH PAD at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Brainin served as Artistic Director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Associate Artistic Director for both Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Indiana Repertory Theatre, and Resident Director at the Guthrie Theater. 

Other directorial credits include plays at American Players Theatre, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Clarence Brown Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Commonweal Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Elements Theatre Collective, Ensemble Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, History Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Illusion Theatre, Kansas City Actors' Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Mixed Blood, New Harmony Project, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Playmakers Repertory Company, Portland Stage Company, Red Bull Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Rubicon Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Skylight Theatre, Syracuse Stage and TheatreSquared. She directed the premiere of Bob Stromberg’s That Wonder Boy in Minneapolis and the United Solo Festival in NY (WINNER: United Solo Festival and Backstage Award, Best One Man Show and Best Direction - 2015) and Annie Torsiglieri's "A" Train also at the United Solo Festival in NY (WINNER: Best Production - 2017 and Best Encore - 2018). 

Since creating LAUNCH PAD in 2005, Brainin has developed and directed 20+ new works by distinguished writers including recent plays by Jami Brandli, Mia Chung, Yussef El Guindi, Anne Garcia-Romero, Franky Gonzalez, Idris Goodwin, Enid Graham, Arlene Hutton, E.M. Lewis, Jenny Mercein, Joyce Carol Oates, James Still and Cheryl L. West. She pioneered, along with Annie Torsiglieri, the groundbreaking Festival Alone, Together performed on June 6, 2020. This collection of 39 new short plays and monologues written for Zoom by LAUNCH PAD alums is now published by Dramatic Publishing Company. LAUNCH PAD was featured in American Theatre magazine for its innovation and contribution to new play development.  

The former director of education for SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development, Ms. Brainin has taught and /or directed for the MFA programs at University of Minnesota and University of Missouri-Kansas City, UC Santa Cruz, Butler University and the BFA Program at University of Utah. A graduate of the Carnegie-Mellon University Drama Program, Brainin has served on grant panels for the Theatre Communications Group and the National Endowment for the Arts. Ms. Brainin is past President of the Board of Trustees of the National Theatre Conference (NTC) and currently serves as Chair of the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award Committee. Brainin was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in 2020.