About Paul

Paul Halley is a writer, performer, director, producer, and multimodal artist. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from SUNY Potsdam (2017) and is currently pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at Manhattanville University.

A lifelong storyteller, Paul began writing and directing original theater at 13 years old, debuting his one-act play ANA at Elmwood Playhouse in 2008, as well as Supergiant in 2009, which holds the distinction of being Suffern High School’s first student-written play. His early creative work spanned stage performances—including lead roles in Seussical (Horton) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom)—as well as poetry and essays published in Chameleon, North Country, and Blueline literary magazines throughout his high school and college careers. During SUNY Potsdam’s Bicentennial in 2016, he wrote and produced the short film Where Should I Begin?, which screened at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference.

In 2024, Paul made a return to the stage after a ten-year acting hiatus, starring as Huey in John Patrick Shanley’s Italian American Reconciliation at Elmwood Playhouse. He followed this in 2025 by portraying Frank Lubey in Elmwood’s milestone 400th production, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. His recent poetry appears in the 2026 anthology Poems For A Wish (Hudson Valley Arts Collective) and the River Hook Poetry Walk, a public art installation across the Hester Haring Cason Preserve in Nyack, NY.

Paul is the author, narrator, director, and executive producer of TURN: A One-Man Audio Drama, a work of spoken autobiographical fiction representing over eight years of creative development. First workshopped at Elmwood Playhouse in 2024 under the direction of Derek Tarson, the full manuscript and master recording were published in May 2026 alongside the launch of Spoken Foundry Studios—Paul’s independent creative entity dedicated to publishing and producing original work. In July 2026, TURN was named an Official Selection at the New Jersey Web Festival.