Born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada, Alisa Palmer completed a degree in history at McGill University.
[citation needed] Palmer's first interaction with Toronto-based Nightwood Theatre was at the 1987 Groundswell Festival, where she performed with the improv group, Hysterical Women.
In 1993 Palmer and Diane Roberts were appointed co-artistic directors of Nightwood Theatre, succeeding Kate Lushington.
[4] In 1995, Palmer directed the play The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls, which she co-created with Ann-Marie MacDonald, Leah Cherniak, Jennifer Brewin, and Martha Ross.
[6] In 2011, Palmer and all of the original cast members except Cherniak, staged a sequel to The Attic called More Fine Girls.
[7] While working at Nightwood, Palmer directed such shows as Bridget McFarthing's Blatantly Sexual (1993), Lisa Walter's Difference of Latitude (1994), Sabina Fella's Fed by Fairies (1996), Diane Flacks's Random Acts (1997), a workshop production of Caryl Churchill's The Skirker (1998), and Alex Bulmer's Smudge (2000).
At the Shaw Festival, Palmer directed several shows including Ann-Marie MacDonald's Belle Moral: A Natural History (2005),[10] Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (2009),[11] Clare Boothe Luce's The Women (2010),[12] and Githa Sowerby's A Man and Some Women (2012).
[20] Palmer was scheduled to direct Hamlet-911, a modern adaptation of Hamlet written by MacDonald, as part of the 2020 Stratford Festival, but was postponed due to COVID-19.