As a director, I gravitate towards non-traditional structure, found spaces, queer and neurodivergent stories, and modern approaches to classical texts. As an English major, I approach every project both within the context it was devised, and the one in which it will be performed–acknowledging any preconceptions that come along with the piece, and questioning if they are valid or necessary. Why does all of the action have to take place on a stage? Why does the protagonist have to be a certain body type, age, or gender? What happens if we change something about the show, what does it reveal about the integrity of the piece and what is truly central to the story and message? Taking projects from this questioning perspective has allowed me to truly analyze our potential impact on an audience and the society they interact with. The answer “because that’s the way it always has been” is not enough justification for an artistic choice. After all, social change has always started with the artists.
A creative and quick-thinking worker, I adapt well to changes and challenges that inevitably arise during the production process. I excel at both working with limited resources to create impactful work, and valuing my co-collaborators as fellow artists whose processes are each unique.
Mutual respect between everyone involved in a production process is the most important key to professional success. I value the time and work of collaborators, and constantly strive to make teammates know that they are appreciated.
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
In September of 2025, Emmie D’Amico will collaborate with Staten Island Shakespeare Company to direct an outdoor, immersive production of The Bard’s classic work. The show will be presented free to the public in the evening at Staten Island’s beautiful Snug Harbor Cultural Center.
Night Witches, a devised piece presented by PickPocket Project at Chez Bushwick
Emmie is directing and leading a team of devisers of female experience to bring to life the story of the Soviet Union’s first women in the active duty military. These women were pilots in the air force who developed an intricate system of attack to stop Nazi progression into their country using the agricultural planes, hand-me-down uniforms, and newly expanded definition of femininity which were allocated to them. The research period began in early February and will run until mid March when the piece will be devised in experimental in person rehearsals in the performance space at Chez Bushwick, to be presented on April 5th of 2025.
Serials episodic theatre presented at The Tank
Emmie is a frequent director, intimacy coordinator, and performer with Serials NYC, an episodic theatre group which calls The Tank Theatre home. Each cycle, 5 brand new ten minute plays are presented to an audience after only 5 hours of rehearsal. The audience then votes on which 3 short plays they’d like to see another episode of. Emmie has participated in every cycle since joining in July 2024.
Queer Joy concert by the Youth Pride Chorus of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus
Working with artistic director Nicholas Sienkiewicz, Emmie collaborated with the young people to devise and direct scenes which created a storyline between songs celebrating the elements of Queer Joy. The concert was presented at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City’s West Village.
Against the Wall by Pablo Ceja
After directing a series of exploratory table readings, Emmie staged a book-in-hand presentation at The Tank Attic in October of 2024. The piece explores themes of masculinity and what happens when an impressionable young man confronts the expectations, tangible and intangible, which society puts on him. More development on this project to come in April 2025.
The Schmidt Sisters: A Revolutionary Situation by Rebecca Farley, Ashlynn Hazel Pilger, and Margo Hera
As part of Emerging Artists Theatre’s 2024 bi-annual Spark Theatre Festival NYC, Emmie directed this world premier 29 hour workshop performance to a sold out audience at New York City’s Chain Theatre.
Of Sorts by Sarah Sterling
In 2024, Emmie directed the world premier staged reading of this innovative and dream-like new work by Sarah Sterling, focusing on generational trauma, body image, and the effect of capitalism on an otherwise feminist individual. Produced as part of the Women’s Playwrights Collective’s Not Forgotten Play Festival presented by Staten Island Shakespeare Company.
A Charlie Brown Christmas Live! Linus Tour
October through November of 2022, I collaborated with Robbie Simpson and the whole Charlie Brown Christmas team as a rehearsal AD and PA. My responsibilities included notating actor blocking, offering dramaturgical resources, being on book, taking line notes, recording rehearsal videos, fixing the printer, sourcing and procuring supplies from local stores, moving set pieces, and playing sound cues. My contract was later extended to serve as the tour stage manager, where I noted each show, facilitated communication between departments, scheduled spacing and brush up rehearsals, ran sound and light focus, and more.
Writing and Directing Apprentice Theatre Aspen
Right after graduating in May of 2022, I started a summer-long contract at Theatre Aspen in CO. There, I worked as the AD to Hannah Ryan for the production of Gypsy music directed by Andy Einhorn starring Cassondra James, and then served in the same role for Hunter Foster on Jersey Boys starring Trevor Berger. My responsibilities included updating and contributing to Hannah Ryan’s extensive dramaturgical document and providing references at her request in the room. I also researched and procured prop suitcases, supervised the child actors, ran lines with actors, took dictated run and tech notes, and facilitated the rehearsal of understudies. For Hunter Foster, I produced a dramaturgical document, documented actor blocking for associate director Andrew Frace, assisted the stage management team, and filled in as a dresser when one experienced a family emergency. In addition to the main stage, I wrote the script and assistant directed for two cabarets with $200/seat tickets. Both were music directed by Eric Alsford. The first was a tribute to Jule Styne in connection with the Gypsy production. The second was entitled: Broadway Celebrates the 60s, and was connected to our Jersey Boys production and directed by Ray Mercer. That summer, I also wrote and graphic designed informational pages for the program, directed/produced/shot/edited a promotional video for The Sound of Music, supervised the child actors in that production, and completed other tasks for the artistic manager Britt Marden and producing director Jed Bernstein.
Click here to watch the Sound of Music Instagram reel
“Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Rajiv Joseph
In January of 2022, I produced and directed this full length play in High Point University’s Empty Space Theater with actors Hannah Wells and Shreya Rana.
A note on our production:
You’ll notice that in our production of Gruesome Playground Injuries, the male role of Dougie was portrayed by female actress Shreya Rana. This choice was intentional. He is unsure of who he is, but knows that he wants to be loved while he figures it out. Dougie has a lot to prove, and although his home life seems “better” than Kayleen’s, he is constantly in an attention deficit and feels responsible for maintaining Kayleen’s happiness. This is no small task, as Kayleen has been repeatedly abandoned and cast aside because of who she is. She is unsure if she is capable of being loved, but wants to be herself while she figures it out. Kayleen and Dougie share a special bond because–inexplicably–they can see each other’s hidden fears and desires. The set design, inspired by the large dance mirrors in this space, lends audience members the pair’s almost supernatural ability to catch glimpses of facial expressions even through turned backs. Their bond is worth examining from every angle. With 7 billion people only a swipe away, it is increasingly easy to run at the first sign of conflict. Why give someone a second chance when you could give another person a go? Why tell someone a hard truth when you could just cut them out? It’s become radical to extend grace and forgiveness to each other. Our closest relationships are with those who have seen our flaws and count them as part of someone they love–our greater whole.
“Rocky Horror Pandemic Show”
On Halloween of 2020, I directed and produced a socially distanced immersive walkthrough performance of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” with a $15 budget and an amazing group of passionate artists.
Click Here to watch a short video with highlights of the performance!
Click Here to Watch the directing pitch I gave to be selected as the director of the project.
Click Here to see the slides which correspond to this presentation
Originally, the piece was going to be a full musical, until we were told we could not sing in person due to it’s “super spreader” label. Next, we were going to produce a drag show, but when faced with a $15 budget, I did not want to compromise the quality of any ensembles we might have created. Instead, I landed on the walk-through with a handful of costume pieces pulled from storage, but mostly sourced from what the actors already owned.
Click Here to view a breakdown of how the show was planned and executed
“No Serious Stuff” A New Zoom Play by Emily Elliott
Click Here to watch a recording of the livestreamed performance! (Starts at 1 hour 5 minutes in)
An interesting and new experience merging theatre and film, this project taught me how to foster connections between actors even if they never get the chance to meet in person. Working with The Masked Collaborative, this was my first chance to direct a show outside of an academic setting.
“Copenhagen” A staged reading in Culp Planetarium
In my sophomore year at High Point University, the Culp Planetarium opened. The theatre department was asked to stage readings of a couple of plays with scientific themes in the new space. This reading of “Copenhagen” was the first time that the planetarium was used for theatrical purposes. It was an incredible experience which included adapting to the challenges of visibility in a space without a proper stage, working with the light switches in the room, and conveying very difficult scientific and moral concepts with very few visual aids. I loved working in the space so much that I went on to assistant direct the new immersive work, “Time,” written and directed by Jay Putnam, and “Galaxies in Her Eyes”, a new planetarium opera directed by Kristine McIntyre.
I found that by turning on the work lights behind the dome, it is made transparent from the audience’s perspective.
Pictured above is a cast bonding exercise: Bohr guided a blindfolded Heisenberg through building & decorating a gingerbread house
(actor with celiac approved the activity and was provided with gloves and a mask)
“Angels in America” selected scenes (unrealized due to Covid)
Citrustage-my quarantine production company-presents “American Son” Talkback featuring Christopher Demos-Brown
Out of sadness and frustration that I could not join the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer due to living with an immunocompromised person in the height of the pandemic, I put together a viewing and talkback of the movie recently released on Netflix: American Son, and reached out to members of the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s cast of their cancelled production, as well as the playwright of this Broadway hit: Christopher Demos-Brown.
Click Here to watch a recording of the live talkback!
ASSISTANT DIRECTing
“Periphery” by Ed Simpson
In production, “Periphery” is HPU’s contribution to the Amplify Black Voices Festival in conjunction with Bennet College, A+T, and UNCG. This is my first time collaborating simultaneously with two directors, Doug Brown and Dean Ken Elston. Doug specializes in the Meisner technique, while Ken is more Viewpoints focused. I am excited to work in a world of merged styles.
“Something Wicked This Way Comes” a collection of spooky Shakespearean scenes presented for Halloween
Produced in the fall of 2021, I was honored with the opportunity to assistant direct under Michael Huie, who also compiled this piece. I was put in charge of an “insults” scene where I blocked a scene out of a list of famous Shakespearean insults. I also acted as a dramaturg, providing the actors with resources and strategies to understand the text. Outside of these responsibilities, I also worked with the Witches to develop the language of their movements and individual characters. About halfway through the rehearsal process, one of our actresses had to step away due to health issues. I served as a show-wide understudy, and thus performed as Tamora in addition to leading nightly physical and diction warmups and providing pre-show notes.
Click Here to read a letter of recommendation from the director, Michael
Click Here to read my assistant director’s note
“Time” a devised, immersive piece by Jay Putnam
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Starting in Fall 2020, I assistant directed the first two workshops of Jay Putnam’s immersive piece: “Time.” We put together two workshopped performances in the spring of 2021, and a third in the spring of 2022.
My responsibilities included: being a sounding board and minor contributor to script development and devised interactive portions of the show, coaching scenes and monologues, offering staging suggestions, taking notes during rehearsals, and due to the quarantine of company members, stage managing, playing the character of DJ, and running FOH for different performances.
“The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later”
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR TO DOUG BROWN
As an Assistant Director for “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later,” I staged a scene, coached monologues, helped actors learn proper diction with masks, took notes during runs, and ran warm-ups nightly. The performance was performed on the Pauline stage to a very limited audience, and live streamed to increase the reach of the show.
A director’s note written by Emmie from the perspective of Doug Brown:
Going into this semester, we as a department knew that we had to get back to live theatre again. It’s what sustains our souls as artists. We needed to be in a rehearsal room again, to sit on the edge of our seats as the house lights lower, to tell stories that need to be told; of which there is no shortage. Over the summer, I led our department in a series of virtual play readings to keep us connected as a company. When we read The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, a rich discussion unfolded about the Black Lives Matter movement. How do our communities address human rights atrocities? When horrific crimes happen in our own backyards, how do our towns and cities react? These questions were at the forefront of our minds while we sculpted tonight’s performance as an ensemble. Though the actors tonight will be six feet apart and masked, human connection shines through. The collaborative space that we cherish in this department supports a company of theatre makers who all had a hand in creating beautiful, intimate “Moments.” These moments preserve Matt’s story. He continues to make a difference.
“Galaxies in Her Eyes” First Workshop of a New Planetarium Opera
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR TO KRISTINE MCINTYRE AND SCOTT MACLEOD
As assistant director/production assistant to music director Scott MacLeod and operatic director Kristine McIntyre, my responsibilities included: coordinating actor schedules, sourcing and creating props and costumes, researching locations to photograph as backdrops, using a fisheye lens to photograph the location for use on the full dome, taking blocking notes, and generally assisting Scott and Kristine. This first workshop was performed in the Culp Planetarium by HPU students and staff in spring 2021, and I served as props master on a professional rendition under the same direction in fall of 2022.
Citrustage-my quarantine production company presents: The Theatre Student Podcast
Click Here to Listen to the podcast!
The podcast is for and by theatre students focusing on what I wish I had been told about the world of high school theatre, and what steps current high schoolers can take towards becoming professionals in the field while they are still in high school. I also investigate the unique problems that face high school theatre students such as working with one’s classmates and eating disorders.
Citrustage-my quarantine production company presents: The American Women’s Comedy Showcase
Click Here to watch the showcase!
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of women in America earning the right to vote, I coordinated a virtual showcase of monologues from fellow HPU students and alumni re-creating iconic works of some of American history’s funniest women with whatever resources they had at their disposal while in quarantine. I had minimal opportunity to coach actors, but was glad to put out work during a difficult time to produce art.
Emmie D'Amico 