Elise May is an independent Teaching Artist/Arts Administrator, educator, actor, singer, writer and storyteller who has performed and taught in the U.S. and internationally. She works with actors, school districts, libraries and corporations on communication skills, community development and developing educational programs using theater arts for vocal empowerment. Elise has developed and facilitates Storytime Theater, Expressive Elocution, Multicultural Voices, Creative Readers as well as intergenerational programs and more.  Elise is on the board of several arts organizations including Stage the Change: Theatre as a Social Voice, a Teaching Artist for the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and a Steering Committee member of the Arts for All Abilities Consortium and an Advisory Board member for Books for Dessert, a literacy program for adults with disabilities. She is a contributing writer for the Teaching Artist Journal, Teaching Artist Guild Quarterly 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 many conferences including Arts for All Abilities Consortium, East End ENL/Bilingual Teachers Academy, Balanced Mind, the Annual Conference of the Bermuda Union of Teachers, NYSTEA Educator and Student Conferences as well as to school administrators, teachers and parents. Elise has produced and moderated events including The Magic of the Arts in Special Education for the Consortium, Spectrum of Hope: Nurturing Abilities, Creating Opportunities and …and Social Justice for All, an arts and activism event.

My creative work focuses on vocal empowerment through oral expression and spoken word. I work with all ages in the general population, those with special needs as well as English as a New Language. Frustration caused by the difficulty of language acquisition is similar to the frustration felt when we age and communication connections and skills become more difficult. Using my background in speech and theater, I have created programs to ease that frustration and enhance expressive vocal capabilities. I have worked extensively with pre-K through 12 and adult populations, including intergenerational work, primarily in theater and voice. I like to believe my special talent is the ability to put people at ease and make exploratory and expressive vocal work fun. As my father's Alzheimer's disease progressed, I made sure to keep him creatively involved. While his short-term memory eluded him, memories from long ago still brought joy and stimulated storytelling. I have a program called "Let's Tell a Story!" in which participants learn the art of storytelling using their own creations brought to light through sense memory exercises. This program is available for any age group as well as intergenerational groups. It offers the opportunity for elder adults to express themselves and pass stories on to their families. Culminating performances are taped.