About Paul Pasulka

Paul Pasulka tells stories. Actually, he has been known to fib. Sometimes he’s gotta be downright lying. Does he really think you’ll believe that the biblical Job was interrogated-enhancedly in Abu Ghraib prison? And I’m sure Lady Macbeth and her child never sought shelter in a residence for homeless families, even after Macbeth killed her husband. The Snow Queen never smoked marijuana. Period. Well, as far as we know. Aesop, while awaiting execution in prison, was definitely not visited by talking animals. That’s just ridiculous. And while he is permitted to speculate, he cannot really expect you to believe that Led Zeppelin-loving robots are going to take over the world.

He does tell some stories that are slightly more believable: a mother trying to cope with her child’s regression into autism; another child trying to cope with the death of his father and his mother’s alcoholism. But I researched these and have found no - well, these have actually been known to happen. And his historical dramas - Anna O. (Bertha Pappenheim - the cofounder of psychoanalysis)  and La Maestra (Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi) are historically accurate.

But his solo-performance autobiographical stories? A face to face encounter with a sympathetic dead rat; the rescue of little lost boys; and donuts trembling in the face of a nun’s rage? You gotta believe he embellishes. A lot. He must, right? ‘Cause otherwise: WTF? 

Oh, and when not stopped in time, he's been known to act and direct. 

On balance? Definitely a liar. Catch him in the acts.

Bio

Paul Pasulka is a network playwright with Chicago Dramatists and a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is also a clinical psychologist (paulpasulka.com) in private practice and on faculty at Northwestern University School of Medicine. 

Skin for Skin, depicting the Biblical Job as an Iraqi-American contractor interrogated in Abu Ghraib prison, was producted by The Agency Collective, with choreography by Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, in March-April 2017. In preparation for this CDE will host a staged reading in November, 2016. 

La Maestra, the story of Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi,  received a staged reading with with dance and movement by Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble in June 2016; and a reading at Chicago Dramatists - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7RjVntNf1s&t=228s. 

When the Levee Breaks was selected as a finalist at The Secret Theater in New York; was produced at Best of the 10’s at Chicago Dramatists and Second City Chicago; at Manhattan Rep, New York. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hmGvO_xT4

Anna O. received a staged reading with The Agency Collective in March 2016 and at Chicago Dramatists . Selected scenes were read as part of Untold Stories of Jewish Woman at The Museum of Jewish Heritage; February 2018.

Gruoch, or Lady Macbeth received a full production with Death and Pretzels in March 2015 after having received a reading in the New Works Festival at Three Cat Productions. Home for Christmas ran as part of Holiday Stories at Three Cat Productions in 2014. Meep-meep and A Dopey Christmas received staged readings at Three Cat Productions. When the Wheels Fall Off was produced in the Brookfield 10-minute Festival in 2013, and was selected as a finalist for The Artist’s Home’s Cut to the Chase Festival. Dark Angels was performed at the American Theatre Company (ATC) and Roberto Clemente High School in ATC’s Bridge Program. Goodnight Moon-doggie was produced by Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble in October 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XJ-ykbpR5M&t=32s

The Sun, the Moon, and Salena was produced as part of the Darkroom Project of New Light Theatre, New York; the Basement Series of the Agency Collective, Chicago; with choreography as part of Heels over Head, IO, Chicago; as part of Paragon Festival, Otherworld Theatre Company, Chicago; the Rockport Maine New Years Eve Fest; and at Crafton College, CA.
Meep-meep was produced at Playwrights Theatre, New York. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9pwLmDmElA

Wanna See a Dead Rat, a collection of stories and 10-minute plays was produced by Death and Pretzels at RhinoFest Chicago in February 2015.

Paul has presented autobiographical stories with the GenNarrations Project of The Goodman Theatre, Three Cat Productions, and Death and Pretzels Theatre. He was invited to read The Ironman’s Rules at The International Storytelling Festival in San Miguel Allende, Mexico, in June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8RaSDiWnA4&t=134s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIXmujHTHvs&t=18s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xljdSzqpE8Q&t=21s

He presented "Neuropsychology, Creativity, and Storytelling" at the Steel Pen Creative Writers' Conference in October 2015 and will be working with Adventure Stage Theatre in assisting middle schoolers in writing plays for Young Playwrights for Change this fall and winter.