Faculty Profiles

Michelle Dahlenburg is an Austin-based audio storyteller, performer, and educator. She teaches Theatre in the Community, Intermediate Acting, Creative Drama, and Training the Teaching Artist at Texas State University.

Michelle is the former Artistic Director of Conspire Theatre, where she created and facilitated theatre and creative writing programs for women during and after incarceration. She has trained with Pig Iron Theatre, Hideout Theatre, Sojourn Theatre, and Ping Chong & Company, among others. Michelle was an Arts & Culture Fellow for the Rockwood Leadership Institute, and was a recipient of the Part-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award and College Achievement Award in Teaching from Texas State University.

Michelle has also been program manager for HATCH, a project manager and audio producer for HATCH/Fusebox/Via Hope’s 4 Plus 4 Equals art and mental health project, an oral historian for Foodways Texas, and a workshop facilitator for Creative Action, Still Point Theatre Collective, American Theatre Company, Texas Folklife, the Paramount Theatre, the University of Texas at Austin, and many other organizations and projects.

Michelle also helps podcasters, educators, advocates, and everyday folks create engaging, human-centered narratives through audio, digital storytelling, and live performance. She co-produced the public education podcast The Voucher Scam and her work has been featured by KUT, PRX, WUNC’s 51%, Fusebox Festival, and podcasts like Neighbors and Mortified. She’s a story producer for the live comedy show Mortified Austin, a frequent guest co-host on the Wondery podcast Famous & Gravy.

As an actor, improviser, singer, and solo performer, Michelle has performed with Chicago and Austin companies such as Trouble Puppet, Pollyanna Theatre Company, the Hideout Theatre, Paper Chairs, the Story Wranglers, Mortified Austin, Erasing the Distance, Tantalus Theatre Group, Live Bait Theatre, Prop Thtr, American Theatre Company, Curious Theatre Branch, and New Millennium Theatre Company.

Michelle is a Certified Story Facilitator with Leadership Story Lab, teaches podcasting for StoryCenter, and holds an MFA in Drama & Theatre for Youth & Communities from the University of Texas at Austin.