Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.  ― Franz Kafka

Elissa Goetschius is a theatre director and dramaturg. Directing credits include THE PATRON SAINT OF LOSING SLEEP at Actor's Theatre of Charlotte, THAT PRETTY PRETTY at Brooklyn College, LOVE & INFORMATION and EURYDICE at Notre Dame of Maryland University, A COLOSSAL THING at Catholic University, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM with Glass Mind Theatre, and A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF AN EXTRAORDINARY BIRTH OF RABBITS and NIGHT SWEATS with the EMP Collective, an interdisciplinary theatre company in Baltimore. Prior to that, she developed and directed REFLECTIONS with Andy Wassenich, a tour of short plays written by patients at St. Elizabeths Hospital, produced by Wandering Souls, and co-directed AMAZONS AND THEIR MEN at Forum Theatre. Her ongoing collaboration with playwright Liz Maestri includes development of the plays THE ICE ROOM, SOMERSAULTING, TINDERBOX, FALLBEIL, CONDO CONDO CONDOLAND, and HOUSE BEAUTIFUL. 

Non-theatre projects include collaborating on the inaugural issue of 24 Magazine (twentyfourmagazine.com) and “Layered Portraits,” a mixed-media installation piece for the 24 Hour City Project first presented at the Intelligent Cities Conference and again as part of Digital Capital Week in 2011.

Formerly the Literary Manager at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Elissa worked on many first and second productions collaborating with playwrights and directors including David Adjmi, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Laura Schellhardt Armbrust, Daniel Aukin, Sheila Callaghan, Melissa James Gibson, Noah Haidle, Anne Kauffman, Pam MacKinnon, Peter Nachtrieb, Howard Shalwitz, Rebecca Taichman, and John Vreeke. She has worked as a dramaturg at Actor's Theatre of Charlotte, Portland Center Stage, Marin Theatre Company, Florida Stage, Rorschach Theatre, Forum Theatre, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

She has worked for Manhattan Theatre Club, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, studied at the British American Drama Academy, and holds a degree in English from Columbia University and an MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College. Elissa is a member of the 2015 Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab, the 2019 LAByrinth Theatre Company Intensive Ensemble and a participant of the 2019 Movement Theater Studio Summer Intensive, the 2014 Theatre and Civic Engagement Workshop with Sojourn Theatre, the 2016 SITI Summer Theatre Workshop in Saratoga Springs, NY, and the inaugural Directors Jam at Directors Gathering.