top of page
The Guys at Theatrical Outfit

ELISA   CARLSON

Elisa Carlson

Elisa is really at the top of her field. 

Deep skills combine with an intuitive sense of the acting process and a great sense of humor to make the collaboration rewarding.  I've learned as much about text and sound from her as anyone in my career.

Chris Coleman, Artistic Director

The Denver Center 

IMG_1405.jpg

Elisa is an Atlanta-based dialect & text coach, theatre director & actor. 

Elisa coached dialects and historic voices for all actors in Ava DuVernay’s Best Picture Academy Award nominee Selma and in Damien Chazelle’s critically acclaimed First Man including Ryan Gosling (Critic's Choice nomination) and Claire Foy (Golden Globe nomination).  Other credits include Edgar Wright's Baby Driver with Lily James and Ansel Elgort (Golden Globe nomination), Dinka language and dialects for actors in Imagine Entertainment's The Good Lie, and actors in the Netflix series Stranger Things

Her theatre voice & text coaching career includes productions Off-Broadway and at the Guthrie Theater (30+), Alliance Theatre (40+), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Alley Theatre and American Player’s Theatre 

Productions coached include the premiere of Tony Kushner's 

The Intelligent Homosexual..., Kenny Leon's production of Medea with Phylicia Rashad, the world premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's Oedipus, 

and the premiere of Becoming Nancy directed by Jerry Mitchell.

 At Theatrical Outfit, Elisa directed Moxie featuring Danielle Deadwyler 

and The Guys featuring Jasmine Guy. 

As resident director for the Gainesville Theatre Alliance (GTA) she has staged multiple productions including A Monster Calls, Antigone

Twelfth Night and Men on Boats.

Other directing credits include The Alliance Theatre Reiser Lab,

Theater Emory and The Refuge Theatre. 

Recent acting credits include Ghost-Writer at Theatre-in-the-Square

(Suzi Bass Award nomination Best Actress), The Book of Will at 

Theatrical Outfit (Suzi Bass Award nomination Best Ensemble),

and Woman in Aris Theatre’s Woman and Scarecrow

In spring of 2025, Elisa will play Dean Trickett in Aurora Theatre's  

Gods of Comedy. 

The Guys at Theatrical Outfit

DIALECT COACHING for FILM & TELEVISION

Credits Include

Elisa with Ava DuVernay
Elisa with Ansel Elgort

FIRST MAN (2018)​

  Directed by Damien Chazelle 

  Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy

  Jason Clarke, Ciaran Hinds

 *Clip: RyanClaire

BABY DRIVER (2017) 

  Directed by Edgar Wright

  Ansel Elgort, Lily James

 *Clip:  AnselLily

SELMA (2014)

  Directed by Ava DuVernay

   *Clip: Tom   

 *Clip: CarmenLorraine

 *Clip: DavidColman

Elisa with Tom Wilkinson
Elisa with Ciarán Hinds
Elisa with Ryan Gosling on the set of First Man.
Elisa with Damien Chazelle

IMDB Page:  ElisaCarlson

BU57551_020923 Pygmalion AJR0032.JPG

VOICE, TEXT &  DIALECT COACHING
for the THEATRE

"Elisa has the unique capacity to make her dialect work utterly intertwined with character development work; her skill set as a director thoroughly infuses her vocal coaching work and actors - and productions - are always greatly enhanced by her work." 

Susan V. Booth, Artistic Director 
The Goodman Theatre

THE ALLIANCE THEATRE
www.alliancetheatre.org
40+ productions since 1998

THE GUTHRIE THEATER

www.guthrietheater.org

30+ productions since 2002

The Guys at Theatrical Outfit

DIRECTING for the THEATRE

"In director Elisa Carlson's strikingly designed staging, the play is no less potent or profound -- and perhaps even more so."   Atlanta Journal

Woman and Scarecrow_edited.jpg

ACTING 

"Elisa Carlson is marvelous..."  

Atlanta Intown

The Guys at Theatrical Outfit

acting, directing &

theatre coaching

elisa.carlson@icloud.com

 

individual coaching 

via zoom only

elisa.carlson@icloud.com

 

film & television coaching

Diane Kamp & Amy Landon

Big Timbre Management

landonamy@gmail.com

boats2_edited_edited_edited.jpg

directing     acting     coaching     cv

bottom of page