Press

“Emma Griffin knows how to be theatrical…”
- from a profile in Paper Magazine

I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI

“Curtis Opera offers outstanding ‘I Capuleti’ … this performance needs to be noted as a matter of history … a stylized, melodramatic body language set up exactly the right expectations: This is not theater as a simulation of real life but a simulation of theater from a bygone era. The artifice was there to be enjoyed for its own aesthetic sake, not for what it attempted to represent.”
- The Philadelphia Inquirer

THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN

“Curtis Opera Theater scored another bull’s-eye.  Emma Griffin’s high-energy but never trivial production, brightly clothed by Jessica Trejos (who somehow made a natural world out of gleaming retro pastels), evoked both the opera’s comic-book origins and the autumnal thoughts engendered in Janáček by his work on it.”
- Opera News

WOZZECK

“The singing and acting were so strong and the staging so psychologically pervasive that the urge for bravos was stopped cold by the thrust of the opera: Family and society break down, the poor always get the short end, and if you’re down, you’ll almost certainly be kicked… The feeling of the production in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater alternated between coldly clinical and sensuously emotional… All of the firm singing, along with muscular playing from the Curtis Orchestra with Corrado Rovaris at the podium, drew additional strength from director Emma Griffin’s vision for the opera.”
- The Bulletin

“unstoppable momentum”
- The Philadelphia Inquirer

STRETCH a fantasia

“Ms. Bernfield, in dialogue that is lyrical and stark at the same time, has [Rose Woods] taking us on a tour through Nixonian history without getting bogged down in the details… the package, under Emma Griffin’s direction, works.”
- New York Times

“…thanks to Emma Griffin’s direction, the pieces come together with pizzazz.”
- Variety

“In what is the production’s most vivid and effective touch under Emma Griffin’s assured direction, the curtain regularly rises to reveal a band performing musical underscoring for Woods’ from-the-hip, worldly-wise declarations.”
- Theatermania.com

REMOVABLE PARTS

“The first thing wrong with Removable Parts is its duration: too short.  Actually, this might be the only thing wrong with this darkly enchanting musical theater piece.”
- New York Times

“…at once uproarious and harrowing…”
- The New Yorker

“Bizarre, complex, and strangely moving, Removable Parts is lyrically brilliant and truly original.”
- Flavorpill

MISERY

“The ending is powerful, a beautifully done blend of the happy, the macabre and the horrific…”
- Syracuse Post-Standard

“…as directed by Emma Griffin, Misery is spectacular on stage.”
- Oswego County Today

“Misery is a Syracuse Stage landmark, among the most outstanding of recent years.”
- Syracuse New Times

POSTCARD FROM MOROCCO

“The production staged by Emma Griffin drew power from Greg Emetaz’ slide projections… there’s a fatter payoff than you imagined from the production… [the] performance may come out on a live commercial recording. I’d buy it.”
- The Philadelphia Inquirer

FIVE COURSE LOVE

“FEAST ON FIVE COURSE LOVE … The cast of three play 15 different characters in different restaurants in different countries to hilarious effect … John Bolton is amazing…Heather Ayers and Jeff Gurner are great … Writer/composer Gregg Coffin, director Emma Griffin, and the entire creative team deserves kudos…a smashing production!”
- Liz Smith, Syndicated Columnist

“In Gregg Coffin’s farcical new musical, Five Course Love … we’re served heaping servings of silliness … we’re also treated to more meat and potatoes than is commonly found in the average silly musical … Coffin’s musical, under the direction of Emma Griffin, is … artfully silly and genuinely funny.”
- Associated Press

“Under Emma Griffin’s sharp direction, Five Course Love scores each of its comic points.”
- Backstage

“Emma Griffin’s fine direction gives it gratifying polish. She takes nothing for granted, demanding accelerated pace, volcanic energy, and precision from start to finish. She knows how to use broad gestures and pushes a little further than expected for well-deserved laughs. She extracts impeccable timing from the cast, reducing the most jaded to downright giggles …”
- NY Theater.com

BAT BOY THE MUSICAL

Awarded a 2003 Big Easy Entertainment Award – Best Director of a Musical

“Eclectic as this show is, everything is of a piece in this spiffy production, from Emma Griffin’s smartly stylized staging to …David Korin’s ingenious toy town set.”
- The Times Picayune

GYPSY

Voted in the “Top Ten” shows of the year by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Creative Loafing (#2 on the list), and Southern Voice (#1 on the list).

“Staging this large work (125 costumes, 21 actors, six musicians and a dog) in an intimate, 120 seat theater is kind of like carving the show’s libretto onto a single chopstick.  But director Emma Griffin manages to keep the spareribs out of the soy sauce and litchis out of the fried rice – to use the shtick of Mama Rose’s favorite cuisine.”
- Atlanta Journal Constitution

“… the Actor’s Express production’s sharp cast and confident direction should delight both musical-theater purists and those who enjoy seeing the classics deconstructed.”
- Creative Loafing

“.. Director Emma Griffin gets it all right… in the hands of Griffin and the flawless cast, it’s dandy entertainment.”
– Southern Voice

47TH ANNUAL VILLAGE VOICE OBIE AWARDS

“Marshaling your resources is never easy when you’re an emerging artistic director with a penchant for large-cast plays. Yet, this young company has managed to create a series of feasts: An exuberant piano-filled production of Stage Door with a cast of 27. A fresh and uncluttered production of The Cherry Orchard that traveled across Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, and was even performed in a former fire house. Clearly, Emma Griffin’s actors will follow her anywhere. And why shouldn’t they, when their leader demonstrates not only trust in their tales but such shoestring panache as well.”
- citation from the OBIE committee

CONQUEST OF THE UNIVERSE

“Making a story about such a despicable character not only watchable but enjoyable, especially while music, food, and sex are exploding all around the characters, controlling their lives in ways expected and surprising, is not easy, though director Emma Griffin is more than up to the task.”
– Talking Broadway

STAGE DOOR

“The first thing you’ll notice about Emma Griffin’s auteurial style is her comfort with physical space. Her production fully exploits an awkward, pole-ridden black box. Transformed into the Footlights Club—a rooming house for Broadway understudies and leading lady wannabes—the playing area is divided into the common living room, an upstairs bedroom, and a visible backstage dressing area, where the young women function as a kind of chorus to the dramatic action. Between scene changes, actors gather around the piano to sing old standards like “All of Me” and “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love.” Salt Theater’s revival affords the opportunity to see an emerging directing talent in the full sway of her passion for the stage.”
- The Village Voice

“Emma Griffin may be the most radical director working below 14th Street. She has disinterred the sudsy, sentimental 1936 chestnut Stage Door not to deconstruct it or heartlessly camp it up, but to genuinely interpret it.”
- Time Out New York

INKY

“Originality-it’s rare. But you can experience the pleasurably sharp intake of breath it brings by seeing Rinne Groff’s Inky; full of deft twists, acerbic quips, and a lunge at your guts. …Emma Griffin directs pungently, with style.”
- The Village Voice