ELISA CARLSON

Dialect and Text Coach Theatre Director Actor

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

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 Garrett Hedlund and Andrea Riseborough in Burden, Edgar Wright's Baby Driver with Lily James and Ansel Elgort (Golden Globe nomination), Andrew Scott in A Dark Place, Dinka language and dialects for actors in Imagine Entertainment's The Good Lie, child and adult actors in Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors 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, American Player’s Theatre, The Children’s Theatre and the Resident Ensemble Players. A sampling of 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 directed by Lisa Peterson, the premiere of Becoming Nancy starring Jessica Vosk and directed by Jerry Mitchell and Crimes of the Heart, directed by Theresa Rebeck.

At Theatrical Outfit, Elisa directed the Reiser award-winning 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 Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antigone, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest and Men on Boats. Other directing credits include The Alliance Theatre Reiser Lab, The Refuge Theatre, Working Title Playwrights and the Guthrie Theater’s BFA Actor Training Program. 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), the lead in the world premiere of Shadow Language at The Guthrie Theater and “Woman” in Aris Theatre’s Woman and Scarecrow.