Hi there! I’m Carolyn Oursler: an Actor, Singer, Pianist, Dancer, and Teaching Artist from Southern Appalachia. I grew up playing piano and fell in love with Musical Theatre in middle school after stumbling upon the 2011 Tony Awards on cable television. I immediately threw myself into the incredible community theater landscape of my hometown. My treasured experiences as a performer, audience member, teaching artist, and intern throughout my adolescence led me to the Theater and Dance department of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
I spent four years working toward my B.A. in Theater Studies concentrating on the American Musical – its history and evolution, contrasting aesthetics and criticism, directing and choreography, and persistent study of acting, singing, and dancing. I performed in professional and student theater companies on works including The Moors, Bright Star, 35MM, and Mamma Mia. My time at Emory also fostered my passion for developing new works; I worked with faculty and students to devise, workshop, choreograph, and perform in many new pieces across multiple genres.
While in Atlanta, I was a member of the inaugural class of the College Cohort program at the Tony Award Winning Alliance Theater – a year-long position giving students hands-on experience in performing, devising, and teaching. I worked on developing new works with The Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young, and served as the universal swing for the show Knock Knock. My internship led to a Musical Theater Teaching Artist position where I wrote, directed, and choreographed short works for nearly 100 students.
I moved to New York City after graduating from college, and have been busy training, performing, and building a sustainable life that supports my artistic goals. I’ve studied musical theater with Ryan Scott Oliver at Actor Therapy, singing with Nora Palka at Matt Farnsworth Studio, and screen acting at Terry Schreiber Studio. I also returned to the Alliance Theatre in June 2024 for the summer workshop of Business Ideas, a captivating new play by Milo Cramer debuting this fall!
Thank you for being here! Let’s collaborate.