Biography
Elise May is an actor, singer, storyteller and Teaching Artist who has performed and taught in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and England for over twenty-five years. With undergraduate degrees in Theatre and Dance, as well as Communicative Disorders and Sciences, and a graduate degree in Theatre and Voice, Elise has developed many educational programs focused on achieving vocal empowerment through theatre arts.
As a teacher, Elise’s experiences range from the prestigious Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama in London, to SUNY Buffalo, to working in NYC with actors on how to change their accents. As a performer her experience includes acting in Shakespeare in Delaware Park, singing Jacques Brel in Newfoundland and performing radio dramas at Hillwood Recital Hall with WCWP radio. After starting a family, Elise became impassioned with keeping arts education alive in the public school system.
As a Teaching Artist, Elise has worked with teachers to create interactive, multi-sensory programs with curricular connections. From enacting classic literature to creating new performance pieces, Elise focuses on the quality of learning achieved through understanding process and accessing multiple intelligences. All of her programs, Storytime Theater, Expressive Elocution, Multicultural Voices, and more, have successfully been in mainstream, Special Education and ESL classrooms. With the support of SEPTA and the Port Washington Public Library, Elise developed Creative Readers, an arts education program for students with special needs.
Elise is on the board of several arts organizations: Stage the Change: the Arts as a Social Voice, Books for Dessert (for adults with intellectual disabilities), and the Steering Committee of the Arts for All Abilities Consortium. She is a contributing writer for the Teaching Artist Guild Quarterly, Teaching Artist Journal and a contributing author of, “In It Together – How Student, Family, and Community Partnerships Advance Engagement and Achievement in Diverse Classrooms.”
Elise has presented at the International Teaching Artist Conference, Arts for All Abilities Conference, Balanced Mind Conference, the Annual Conference of the Bermuda Union of Teachers, NYSTEA Educator and Student Conferences, ES BOCES Conference for Kids as well as to school administrators, teachers and parents. She is a multi-year grant recipient and has received support from the Ed. Foundation, NYSCA, EEAC, HAC, JP Morgan Chase, NYSED, as well as the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award (NEA, NEH and IMLS).
Elise is married with three beautiful children who love working in the theater!
As a teacher, Elise’s experiences range from the prestigious Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama in London, to SUNY Buffalo, to working in NYC with actors on how to change their accents. As a performer her experience includes acting in Shakespeare in Delaware Park, singing Jacques Brel in Newfoundland and performing radio dramas at Hillwood Recital Hall with WCWP radio. After starting a family, Elise became impassioned with keeping arts education alive in the public school system.
As a Teaching Artist, Elise has worked with teachers to create interactive, multi-sensory programs with curricular connections. From enacting classic literature to creating new performance pieces, Elise focuses on the quality of learning achieved through understanding process and accessing multiple intelligences. All of her programs, Storytime Theater, Expressive Elocution, Multicultural Voices, and more, have successfully been in mainstream, Special Education and ESL classrooms. With the support of SEPTA and the Port Washington Public Library, Elise developed Creative Readers, an arts education program for students with special needs.
Elise is on the board of several arts organizations: Stage the Change: the Arts as a Social Voice, Books for Dessert (for adults with intellectual disabilities), and the Steering Committee of the Arts for All Abilities Consortium. She is a contributing writer for the Teaching Artist Guild Quarterly, Teaching Artist Journal and a contributing author of, “In It Together – How Student, Family, and Community Partnerships Advance Engagement and Achievement in Diverse Classrooms.”
Elise has presented at the International Teaching Artist Conference, Arts for All Abilities Conference, Balanced Mind Conference, the Annual Conference of the Bermuda Union of Teachers, NYSTEA Educator and Student Conferences, ES BOCES Conference for Kids as well as to school administrators, teachers and parents. She is a multi-year grant recipient and has received support from the Ed. Foundation, NYSCA, EEAC, HAC, JP Morgan Chase, NYSED, as well as the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award (NEA, NEH and IMLS).
Elise is married with three beautiful children who love working in the theater!
Many thanks for the support of the following:
Huntington Arts Council
Port Washington Public Library
PWPL Children's Advisory Council
The Ed. Foundation (formerly the Port Washington Education Foundation)
Port Washington SEPTA
New York State Council on the Arts
JPMorgan Chase
New York State Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel
East End Arts Council
The Jackie Spielman Storytelling Fund
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