work
June 2024- Director’s Lab North
In June, Emma will head to Toronto, Canada, to participate as a member of the 2024 Director’s Lab North. There, she will participate in “a series of workshops, readings, rehearsals, investigations, roundtable discussions, shared sessions and master classes with Master Directors from around Canada and the world.” (About: Director’s Lab North)
September 2023
starring/
OLIVIA HARDY
MELISSA GILBERT
MICHAEL PARK
ABIGAIL BRESLIN
Emma directs the new pop/rock musical, Runaway Home, at Theatre Row in September 2023 . The musical was written by Darren J. Butler and Judy Rodman. More details coming soon, but for now you can read more about it HERE
August 2023: The Wedding of the Painted Doll
Emma directs a staged reading of A. L. McCormally’s The Wedding of the Painted Doll at Polaris North. The play centers queer, interracial relationships in the 1950s American South.
JULY 2023: THE KEENING at Ground Floor Lab/
Emma Denson, LeAnne Howe, and Colm Summers at Berkeley Rep, 2023.
Emma (Associate Director, Co-Deviser) joins Colm Summers (Director, Co-Deviser) and LeAnne Howe (Co-Deviser) at Berkely Repertory Theatre in California to develop The Keening. The project, originater by Summers and Howe in 2020, follows the generations-long relationship between the Irish and Choctaw, starting in the worst year of the Great Hunger, 1847, when the Choctaw sent a gift to the starving Irish, not long after they themselves had been forcibly marched along the trail of tears.
The Creative Mentor for Ground Floor Lab 2023 was Tony Award Nominated Director, Leigh Silverman. You can read more about Ground Floor HERE.
OTIS & ANNA
JUNE 2023
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
New York, NY
Emma directed her original one-act, Otis & Anna at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons as part of the Downtown Urban Arts Festival 2023. The play marked Emma’s debut as a solo playwright.
H U N G E R
Adapted by Maria Rewakowicz and Emma Denson
May 2023: Hunger Staged Reading at the Ukrainian Museum
(BY BOHDAN BOYCHUK)
In May, Emma directed a second reading of Hunger at the Ukrainian Museum in the East Village. The event sold out, and the team is currently in discussions with various Ukrainian organizations about staging a works-in-progress in November 2023, during the 90th anniversary of Holodomor Remembrance Day.
THE PROCESS
THE MESSAGES
APRIL 2023
Emma assistant directs Danica Salem on The Process: a devised work based on Kafka’s The Trial put in conversation with the immigration process.
Emma reunites with frequent collaborators Colm Summers and Austin Tooley at BRIC in Brooklyn for a two-week residency to develop Colm’s new play The Messages. Austin Tooley directs and Emma serves as assistant director.
Assistant Directing
Hunger Residency
Later in March, Emma returns to her alma mater, Mississippi State University, to direct a reading of Hunger with the current theatre students. She also gives a guest lecture for the directing course.
Mississippi State University
March 2023
s u b [ v e r t ] w a y
March 2023: Mujerstory
Emma’s short play sub[vert]way is one of three performances chosen for IATI’s annual Mujerstory, a night to celebrate women’s history month.
IATI Theater
Origin 1st Irish 2023
Irish Arts Center
January 2023
Emma directs a reading of Hunger at the Festival Finale for Origin 1st Irish 2023 at Irish Arts Center.
You can read a review of the play here.
Mississippi Theatre Association
Adjudicator
January 2023
In January 2023, Emma serves as an adjudicator for the community theatre division at Mississippi Theatre Association. In addition to her adjudicator duties, Emma is thrilled to lead a workshop, which several of her former acting students attend.
November 2022: The Keening
Residency at Irish Arts Center
Emma is in residence at Irish Arts Center for a week to develop The Keening, a play that chronicles the story of the Choctaw’s generation-long friendship and reciprocity with the Irish, alongside project leaders Colm Summers and LeAnne Howe.
October 2022: Catwalk Institute
Residency for BARBIES by A.A. Brenner
Emma travels upstate to Catskill, NY with playwright A.A. Brenner and dramaturg Austin Tooley for a two-week residency at Catwalk Institute to develop A.A.’s play, BARBIES.
SEPTEMBER 2022
WAXWORKS FESTIVAL AT TRISKELLION ARTS
Emma directs and devises a bilingual dance/theatre piece that puts The Taming of the Shrew in conversation with The Feminine Mystique and the Italian immigrant experience.
She devised the piece with the company, which primarily consisted of Italian artists.
THE TAMING OF KATE
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Stagedoor Manor
August 2022
PURGATORY: AFTER YEATS
by colm summers and ciara ni chuirc
June 2022
Residencies in Co. Waterford and Co. Dublin, Ireland
Emma travels to Ireland as assistant director on Purgatory: After Yeats with playwrights Colm Summers and Ciara Ni Chuirc. Summers also served as director, and Austin Tooley served as dramaturg. The team was in residence for one week in Co. Waterford at Garter Lane Arts Centre, and one week in Co. Dublin at Fishamble. The project was funded by the Irish Arts Council.
APRIL and MAY 2022:
Assistant Directing at Columbia University
Emma assists director Colm Summers on A.A. Brenner’s MFA Thesis play, Blanche and Stella, at Columbia University.
APRIL
Emma serves as assistant director and props master for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (dir. Colm Summers) at Columbia University. The production was a co-production between Columbia and The Classical Theatre of Harlem. When the actor playing Lysander came down with Covid during tech week, Emma went on as the understudy, getting off-book for the role in 36 hours.
MAY
About Emma’s Direction
EMMA believes that, as human beings, we are natural storytellers and have within us the tools necessary to effectively draw others into the story. Emma’s direction is character driven, focusing on the words the playwright gives us and building a show from the inside out. She aims to push actors and audience members alike to their limits, encouraging them to actively imagine, engage, and ultimately empathize with each other.