Bio
Paul Austin's work has appeared in such publications as This Land, Sugar Mule, Oklahoma Review, Heinemann Press, and Newport Review. He's currently working on two other collections, In First Light and Persons of Influence. Late Night Conspiracies, a collection of his writings was performed with jazz ensemble at New York's Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he is a long-time member. He has written for and about the theatre in essays, poetry and plays. In his theatre career he has acted and directed On and Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, summer stock, and regional theatres around the nation, as well as acting for television and film.
He was for many years the Artistic Director of The Image Theatre in New York, where he produced plays and taught acting. Mr. Austin' latest venture was as Founder and Artistic Director of The Liberty Free Theatre, a free theatre which ran for ten years as a public service for the underserved community of Sullivan County, NY.
In addition to teaching privately in NY, he was a tenured faculty member at Sarah Lawrence College for twenty years. He has also taught at the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute He was a recipient of the Teachers Who Make a Difference award from the Creative Coalition at the Sundance Film Festival.
He is married to Oklahoma native, the novelist, Rilla Askew. They met, married and lived in New York City from 1981 to 2004, then moved to Sullivan County in the Catskill Mountains from 2004 to 2014, then moved to Norman, OK in 2015 where they reside now.