About Elissa
Elissa Dynes is an actor, writer, director, and movement-based performer. She finished her MFA from Rose Bruford College in London in 2025, where she refined her artistic voice. She began her MFA training at the National Theater Institute, where the immersive, interdisciplinary program laid the foundation for her bold, socially conscious approach to storytelling.
Elissa is passionate about crafting strong female characters that explore the complexities of women’s political status. Frustrated by the lack of dynamic female arcs, she uses theatre to challenge these narratives, presenting women as confident, opinionated, and fearless. She expresses these ideas through acting and writing traditionally structured plays. As a director, she enjoys facilitating collaborative, idea-driven processes.
Her interest in women and politics began during her undergraduate studies at the University of Dubuque, where she earned a BA in Theatre and Politics. After completing her MFA, she hopes to return to the U.S. to write and act in original plays, adapt canonical texts from a feminist perspective, and develop complex female roles in theatre.
