Leslie Pasternack is an actor, director, teacher and dramaturg working on the NH/MA seacoast. She is the owner of Lemon Punch Theatre Lab. Leslie also directs the New Play Lab at The Players Ring in Portsmouth, NH. She holds her Ph.D. in Theatre History from the University of Texas at Austin and is also a graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She has over twenty years of experience teaching in colleges, theatres and the community. After her career as a full-time lecturer at Northeastern University and Mulhenberg College, Leslie returned to NH. In addition to founding Lemon Punch Theatre Lab in 2019, Leslie has taught workshops in stage combat, mask performance, commedia, and physical presentation at venues including Dartmouth College, Methodist University, The Actors Studio of Newburyport, Gould Academy, theatre KAPOW and NH Theatre Project.
Recent directing credits include Morning Sun for theatre KAPOW; Enid’s Mill for The Players Ring; Trifles & Escaped Alone at the Firehouse Center for the Arts; The Revolutionists, also at the Firehouse; the performance/outreach series MAKE SURE IT’S ME/nh, based on Kate Wenner’s play about Traumatic Brain Injury in the military; Caryl Churchill’s A Number; Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?; and Will Eno’s Tragedy: a tragedy.
Leslie’s solo shows have played in Allentown, Newburyport, Boston, New York City, Portsmouth, Concord, MA and Providence, RI. Her masked solo show, Clean Room, earned the 2012 Seacoast Spotlight Awards for Best Original Script and Best Actress. In 2018, Leslie played John Wesley Powell in NHPT’s production of Men on Boats. 2025 was a big performance year, with major roles in As Small As Stars, Romeo & Juliet and The Man Who Laughs.
Leslie also serves on the Board of the Newmarket Millspace.
For the Clean Room promotional trailer, created by Shay Willard, click here. To watch a video of Leslie and her mask characters being interviewed by Bill Humphreys of Portsmouth Public Media TV, click here. For more information about MAKE SURE IT’S ME/nh, visit the MSIM page here.
Contact Leslie@lesliepasternack.com.