ELISA CARLSON

Theatre Director Actor Dialect & Text Coach

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 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