Who is she…

Without getting too existential, Emily Hawkins is a freelance director, producer, theatre-maker, and avid pub quizzer. She recently completed the MA in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has now been set loose to make work in the wild (or a pub theatre).

Emily gravitates toward provocative, collaborative theatre that invites curiosity and complexity. Guided by a heterarchical approach to making, she believes meaningful work is created through shared authorship, open dialogue, and the space for surprise.

Since completing her MA, Emily has directed several award-winning fringe productions. Anthropocene by Ben Wendel—winner of the PubTheatre Blackbox Theatre Award—premiered at the Camden Fringe Festival in summer 2025. She also directed Bog Body by Olivia Cordell, winner of The Glitch Award at the Lambeth Fringe Festival. Emily is a member of Dubious Company, a devising theatre collective formed at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, who have performed at Lambeth and Brighton Fringe.

After graduating in 2020 from the University of Southern California, she moved to New York City. While in New York, Emily found herself in the unexpected position of Covid Safety Supervisor for various Broadway workshops, auditions, and rehearsals, and eventually the Broadway production of Wicked. While Covid Safety Managing, she not only took advantage of the vast resources surrounding her to expand her theatrical education through shadowing various departments at the show, but she also found time to continue pursuing her passion of directing. Emily directed her first fully staged play in New York in May of 2023 at the New York Theater Festival, with Tyler Miclean’s Bad Sister.

After departing Wicked, Emily worked as an Associate General Manager at Aaron Grant Theatrical, where she assisted in managing Tawni O’Dell’s critically acclaimed production of Pay the Writer, and Tom Sweitzer’s New York premiere of his One-Man-Show, 20 Seconds.

Her previous directing credits include The Last Five Years and The Duchess of Malfi at USC. She also assistant directed The Caucasian Chalk Circle,winner of 5 LA Drama Critic Awards, at Antaeus Theatre Company. Regional Theaters she’s worked with in California include Antaeus Theatre Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, CalShakes and Pacific Resident Theatre.

To learn more about Emily, please explore her portfolio pages.