2-2-16 Audio Interview

Having accompanied her mother to rehearsals when she produced West Side Story for a local theater group, nine year old Emily Sophia Knapp feel in love with the theater and when she saw her friend in a 50 kid production she knew that was what she wanted to do. But Emily has many interests and she didn’t want to miss out on anything. At Harvard she pursued independent research but found it too solitary and so she went to England to study acting. She sent a letter to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival asking for an audition and spent 2 years living the actor’s life in NY until OSF finally responded, gave her an audition and offered her a position. It was during her two years as an actor at the festival that she discovered an interest in everything about “how plays get produced;” she learned to write grants and developed a software program for the festival. It was there that she also began to direct, becoming assistant director for the earliest productions of All the Way – which she is currently directing for the Asolo Repertory Theatre Company. Listen to this exuberant, flexible, charming woman talk about her unusual path and hear Sharon Leslie’s review of All the Way.