Lisa Quoresimo

Dr. Lisa Quoresimo is Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at Southern Utah University.
Lisa's plays have been seen internationally (Siddahartha the Bright Path: Cloudy with a Chance of Contempt), Off-off Broadway (Not My Heart’s Desire: Endlessly Rocking: Antigone, a Fable Without Walls), in regional theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area (Discharge: Between Dirt and Sky: Ciribiribin) the Sacramento area (Charlie and Nell: Charlotte Charke/Mr. Brown), and across the nation (Persuasion, a modern romance, Parable Plays). She was a member of the 2024 PlayTime Playwright’s Cohort at Dramatic Question Theatre in NYC.
Lisa is the co-founder and co-director of Catalyst: a Theatre Think Tank, where she was director and dramaturg for Juliet & Romeo, a new musical by Tony-nominated composer Paul Gordon and Emmy winning composer Curtis Moore. Lisa's work as a director, dramaturg, performer and composer has been seen at Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, Brava Theatre, The Marsh, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
As the artistic director of the Kairos Theatre in NYC, Lisa produced and directed upwards of thirty shows. Her vocal students have been seen on Broadway, national tours, and in the Vienna Boys Choir. She has served on the faculties of NYU and the Manhattan School of Music. Her scholarly work has been published in Voice and Speech Review, Theatre Topics, Global Performance Studies, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, and Analog Game Studies, as well as chapters in the recently released Hamilton, History and Hip-hop (McFarland) and Voice and Identity (Routledge).
Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from UC Davis, an M.A. from Carnegie Mellon, and is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association.

Highlights of Lisa's recent and upcoming work:

Persuasion, a modern romance
(Playwright)
Kayenta New Play Lab, August 2025
Ivins, Utah
Waterworks Festival at LiveArts, May 2024
Charlottesville, Virginia

Lighthouse, a new pop-country musical
Director and Musical Director
Kayenta Center for the Arts, June 2025

The Feminist Journey of Stephen Sondheim
under contract at Routledge

The Mysterious Stranger, a new musical based on the work by Mark Twain
Catalyst; a Theater Think Tank
September 2024 (Director and Dramaturg)

Horse Thief, August 2023
Utah Shakespeare Festival, Words Cubed
Director and Dramaturg

Cloudy with a Chance of Contempt
Theatrical Shenanigans Podcast
Lisa's play was chosen to open the second season on August 6.

Discharge, August 2023
Valley Players, Napa, CA
A staged reading of one of Lisa's recent plays

Cloud 9, March 2023
Directed a beautiful work by Caryl Churchill in the Anes Theatre at SUU, and composed music for it. Here's the title track: Cloud 9

"Queering the Voice in Song"
Global Performance Studies Issue 4.1, 2021

Beckett's Babies Podcast Episode 82:
Interview with Dr. Lisa Quoresimo

What the critics have to say:

"Lisa Quoresimo plays a powerful and frightening Mother Superior"

Quoresimo directs with flair, evoking delightful performances by the two-dozen member cast"
SF Examiner

"Quoresimo did a powerhouse turn, never letting the density of the text get the better of her." -
SF Classical Voice

"Lisa Quoresimo plays a powerful and frightening Mother Superior"
Bitter Hack

"Quoresimo is marvelously over the top..."
The Davis Enterprise

"Quoresimo gives Dolly energy and heart"
Davis Enterprise

"Lisa Quoresimo’s piano-playing is great in its authenticity."
The Thinking Man's Idiot

"...live melodramatic piano accompaniment (deftly handled by Lisa Quoresimo)"
The Stage Review