A storyteller, on and off the stage.

Elise is a junior at St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut, and a member of the St. Luke's Theater Company. She trains in voice, acting, and dance.

Her recent stage work spans dramatic and musical theatre — from Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at St. Luke's, to Kristine in A Chorus Line and Nickie in Sweet Charity at the French Woods Festival. She was also featured as a singer at New York's 54 Below in 54 Celebrates French Woods, and earned a Halo Robe nomination for Standout Ensemble Member in Mamma Mia!

[What draws her to the work is the chance to live inside very different people on very different stages — Tzeitel's quiet courage one season, Johnny Cade's restless edge the next, a Dr. Seuss bird the season after that. She approaches every role looking for what's specific and true about the character, then brings everything she's trained for — voice, movement, ear for ensemble — in service of that. She's the kind of company member directors trust to also dance-captain a number or co-choreograph a scene, and the kind of student who chases Awards of Distinction in Acting, Biology, and Math in the same year. Dream roles include Eponine, Eliza Hamilton, and anything that asks her to sing through something she hasn't fully felt before.]

[“I want to be the kind of actor a director can hand a hard moment to and trust that I'll find the truth of it — not just the shape.”]

Training

• Acting — Advanced Acting and Acting I & II at St. Luke's School with Dawn Fuller; private coaching with Cynthia Gibbs
• Voice — Private study with Jack Shapiro
• Dance — Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, and Lyrical at New England Academy of Dance
• Summer intensive — French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts

Off stage

When she isn't rehearsing, Elise volunteers as a Counselor-in-Training at French Woods Festival and as an Ambassador for Night to Shine and the Rowan Center, and is active with the National Charity League and Songs for the States. She works as a sales associate at Vineyard Vines in New Canaan, and has earned Awards of Distinction in Acting, Biology, and Math at St. Luke's.