Bio - the long version

A native of Ohio, Emily made her theatrical début at age 3 as ‘Mary’ in the church live nativity. From there she went on to star in countless plays, musicals, pageants, and puppet shows, produced exclusively in her bedroom for no one in particular. When she wasn’t following at someone’s heels reading her most recently drafted play or poetry, she could be found singing loudly in a choir, in a show, or in a bathtub. 8 years of clown camp (yup) not only turned her into a juggler and puppeteer, but also a character- loving ham. She took a break from performing in the 8th grade to try out for her high school’s division A national champion basketball team… all 4’9” of her. Days later she returned to the stage and stayed there. 

She went on to pursue performing at Ohio Northern University, telling her loving and supportive parents she would be double majoring in musical theatre and middle childhood education, the latter of which she dropped shortly after her generous parents made the non-refundable deposit on the first semester’s tuition. There she had the opportunity to play many roles big and small and eventually graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre (and minors in Theatre and Public Relations.) 

After graduation she spent a year working as a social worker. While helping children and their families and cubicle to cubicle rubber-band warfare has it's merits, she decide to move to NYC and see what happened. 

What happened  was a growth spurt unlike anything she could imagine. She was finally able to articulate and follow her dreams, combining her passion for performing with her desire to work with and for children. She dreams of some day combining her favorite bits of performers such as  Mr. Rogers, Sheri Lewis, Tress MacNeille, and Raffi into one, big project of some sort, which she will credit a succes if it can touch the heart of even just one child.   

In the meantime she works with kids (field testing,) is a voiceover artist, sings, dances, acts, plays the ukulele, writes children’s music/books, builds and performs puppets, and haphazardly tries her hand at crafting whatever strikes her fancy, all while looking to find or create a path to her ultimate dream.  (see resume for a list of credits) 

Recently she stumbled upon a worksheet from 5th grade where she was provided several lines to describe the career she wanted to have someday. It read “I want to be a performer and sing and also work with kids to make their brains light up.” After all these years, it’s still the goal. 

Fun Facts:

- has a freakish ability to find four leaf clovers, even when not looking for them. 

- named her dog (Wembley) after a muppet from Fraggle Rock.

- had such a love affair with butter as a child, grew up thinking "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" ended in "...life's a butter dream!" 

- likes to climb tall things (esp. if told she shouldn't.)

- actively enjoys doing laundry.

- has never met a craft project she wasn't willing to try. (results vary)