For his birthday Ryan Paulson received $200 and a one-way ticket to New York City. He got off the plane with only a sleeping bag, backpack and guitar and pounded the pavement until he found a hostel in Hell’s Kitchen with a vacancy.

When Ryan called his dad to tell him how things were going his dad said, “I don’t know, Ryan,” in a way that made it seem like he thought it unwise for a naïve Scandinavian from Wisconsin to be roaming the streets of the big city.

But after only three days Ryan was performing for crowds of adoring fans… and their nannies. Ryan and his guitar were a hit on the children’s birthday party circuit.
Round about that time Ryan auditioned for a new musical and was promptly… rejected.
But he did find a place in the show’s band.

Hanging around rehearsals for which was not called Ryan charmed the cast and crew with stories and songs about his life in Wisconsin - how he’d planned on becoming a Pentecostal minister, used to like to speak in tongues, and was even crowned Wisconsin’s "Dairy King” having clinched the talent portion of the competition with his anti cow-tipping anthem “Stand Up for the Cows.”

The show’s director, Virginia Scott, was so impressed that it wasn’t long before she and Ryan decided to create a new show and “Pentecostal Wisconsin” was born.
While working on Pentecostal Wisconsin Ryan auditioned for other shows and was promptly… cast!

He has appeared at Lincoln Center, New York Comedy Club, Chicago City Limits, the Irish Arts Center, the Sanford Meisner Theater, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, Vital Theatre Company, Breakaway Theatre Company and The Theater at Monmouth. He has also appeared on the Early Show on CBS and in a workshop of What Didn't Happen by Christopher Shinn at HERE. And in time even the critics were won over by Ryan’s Wisconsin charm proclaiming “Ryan Paulson is a riot."