Bio

Elisa Grace Diehl is a theatre person/writer/musician/martial artist/teacher, among other things.  Alternately, her high school yearbook states that she is a “good little monkey,” and as her mother would have it, she is “a strange bird.”  She is a graduate of Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and she holds both a BA in Musical Theatre and a Certificate in International Studies from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, where she maintained a Presidential National Merit Scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude.  While at the University of Tulsa, she studied abroad twice: once at Kanda University in Japan, and once at Goldsmiths University of London.  From 2005-2008, she lived and worked in Gunma, Japan, where she taught English, traveled, played in a rock band, and independently studied Japanese theatre (mostly from the audience, but once from onstage ^_^).  She holds an MFA in Theatre (Performance, Asian Focus) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where her thesis consisted of in-depth study and application of Noh, Jingju (Beijing Opera), and Kabuki performance.  While at the University of Hawaii, she created, produced, and artistically directed the Black Box Black Blocks Theatre and Dance Festival of New Works (2009-2011), served on the Late Night Theatre Board, performed with the Hawaii Gagaku Society, and helped to organize the Brecht in/and Asia conference of 2010.  She is currently the Theatre Production Specialist (basically the technical director and all-purpose technician) for Lee College and an adjunct theatre professor in both the Lone Star College and San Jacinto College systems, as well as a freelance actor in Houston, Texas.  Her regular performance gig is as the mad scientist “Seismic Sue” with Mad Science Houston.

Details:

Height: 5’9.5’’

Weight: 142-145 depending on the day

Eye-color: Gray

Hair-color: Blonde

Family: Parents, two sisters, brother in law, nephew, niece, etc.

Languages in Order of Proficiency: English, Japanese, German

Instruments in Order of Proficiency: Voice, Violin, Ryuteki, Cello, Shimedaiko

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Season: Autumn

Favorite Flower: Those black-eyed Susan/sunflower looking things that grow in ditches

Favorite Famous People: In no particular order- William Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss, Andre Dawson, Jet Li, George Rogers Clark, Mansai Nomura, Johnny Depp, Tim Blake Nelson, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, C. S. Lewis, Nizaemon XV, Kristi Yamaguchi, Ellen DeGeneres, Hugh Laurie, Diana Wynne Jones, Jane Austen, Stephen Sondheim, Megumi Hayashibara.

Favorite Foods: Green Chile, Skillet (it’s a southwestern dish made in a skillet), Fruit

Favorite Sport (to watch): Baseball

Favorite Baseball Teams:  Chicago Cubs, Chiba Marines

Favorite Sport (to do): Tae-Kwon-Do

Favorite Bands/Singers: Do as Infinity, Weezer, Sherryl Crow, Hayashibara Megumi, Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Smashing Pumpkins

Collections: Thimbles, Tea, Art, Hats, Nonfiction Books