Lisa PaulsenAssociate Teaching Professor, Theater Studies

Lisa Paulsen joined the Theater Studies faculty in 2001 and regularly teaches courses in acting. She has also been part of creating a unique co-teaching model for playwriting, in conjunction with the Creative Writing faculty. In 2006, Ms. Paulsen was named Director of the Playwriting Center of Theater Emory, which includes the bi-ennial play development lab, Brave New Works.

As a resident actor and director for Theater Emory, she has directed This Property is Condemned as part of the Young Acts and Midsummer Night's Dream. She also appeared as Lily in Ah, Wilderness!, as well as taking part in The Family Project and Brave New Works. In addition, she choreographed several of the violence sequences for King Lear, directed by Tim McDonough and was period style coach forShe Stoops to Conquer, directed by Michael Evenden.

Her professional research in acting and directing includes credits at Shakespeare Festivals in Georgia, California, Utah, Oregon, Texas and six seasons with PCPA Theaterfest. She has played dozens of roles ranging from Eliza Doolittle inPygmalion to the Marquis de Merteuil in Les Liasones Dangereus to Rosalind in As You Like It. Directing credits include How I Learned to Drive, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and The Road to Mecca. Her filmography includes a featured role in "Psychopathia Sexualis" directed by Bret Wood and distributed by Kino International, and a collaboration on "Happy Crying Nursing Home," directed by Niklas Sven Vollmer.

Ms. Paulsen served as Artistic Associate and Education Director for California Shakespeare Festival, and on the acting faculty at University of Alabama. She received her MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University and her BA from University of Northern Iowa. Lisa is originally from Ames, Iowa.