Originally from Los Angeles, Emma studied literature at Sarah Lawrence College before relocating to London. She has an MA in Shakespeare Studies from Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe. She then trained in MFA Advanced Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Emma works across new writing, opera, music theatre, and ‘classic’ theatre with a particular interest in early modern theatre and the Restoration. Her practice combines deep historical research, close textual reading, contemporary theatre aesthetics, and multidisciplinary analysis, with a mission to platform historically marginalised voices and interrogate canonical ones.
In summer 2024, Emma will direct and dramaturg the premieres of two new plays, by Somebody Jones and Nick Cassenbaum. Recently, Emma directed Antisemitism: a (((musical)))) at Camden People's Theatre. Other directing credits include The Retreat at the Finborough Theatre, Amy Beach's chamber opera Cabildo at Wilton's Music Hall and the Arcola, eco-noir socialist operatic film The Agency by Sarah Sigal and Matthew Olyver at Tête-à-Tête, and a livestreamed, OnComm award-nominated production of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone. Emma has directed workshops and R & Ds at venues including the Bush, artsdepot, the Kiln, and the Gate.
Emma has directed and taught at numerous drama schools including RADA, Central School of Speech and Drama, LAMDA, Guildhall, Mountview, Rose Bruford, East 15, and Oxford School of Drama. Emma is passionate about empowering the next generation of artists to make radical work safely and inclusively, as well as interrogating and deconstructing 'canonical' material for the present moment.
Dramaturgy and research consulting credits include: dramaturg on Watch on the Rhine (Donmar Warehouse, directed by Ellen McDougall); research consultant on Venice Preserved (Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah), and research assistant on Absolute Hell (National Theatre, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins). Emma is currently working as dramaturg to develop an opera based on the music of Barbara Strozzi with CN Lester and Sarah Dacey, beginning with a 2022 Snape Maltings residency at Britten Pears.
Emma worked across English Touring Opera's autumn 2023 season, as associate director to Robin Norton-Hale The Coronation of Poppea and as assistant director to Jenny Ogilvie on Cinderella. Emma was associate director to Polly Graham on The Fairy Queen at Longborough Festival Opera in 2023.
Emma was co-founder of Global Origins, a network and platform for international, diasporic, and multicultural artists. Global Origins partnered with the Gate Theatre on REROUTED: a free digital discussion group for international plays and performance intended to decolonise the canon and expand the limits of British theatre.
Emma is the recipient of a Global Talent visa. She is represented by Maddie O'Dwyer at Berlin Associates.