Emma
Griffin

Emma Griffin is a theater and opera director; she is also the Managing Artistic Director of Mannes Opera, a program at the College of Performing Arts at The New School.

Griffin has a diverse background in theater, musical theater and opera. Her productions have been seen in performance venues all over the country. She is a frequent collaborator on new music/theater pieces; projects include the Ricky Ian Gordon/Frank Bidart operatic poem Ellen West (with Beth Morrison Productions & Prototype, January 2020), Phil Kline’s Out Cold & Zippo Songs at BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Corey Dargel’s Removable Parts; and Susan Bernfield and Rachel Peters’ Stretch, a fantasia. Opera highlights include Sweeney Todd at Wolf Trap Opera, La Fanciulla del West at Opera Colorado, the world premiere of Charpentier's La Feste de Ruel with Catacoustic Consort; La Boheme at Crested Butte Music Festival, Three Decembers at Atlanta Opera; Don Giovanni at Boston Lyric Opera; The Cunning Little Vixen and Don Giovanni at Juilliard Opera; Wozzeck at Opera Philadelphia/Curtis Opera Theater. She was the Artistic Director of the OBIE-award winning Salt Theater, based in NYC; highlights with Salt include Stage Door (FringeNYC Excellence Award as Best Director), The Cherry Orchard, Scenes from a Marriage and Conquest of the Universe. She has theater credits at many regional theaters including Perseverance Theater, Geva Theater Center, Syracuse Stage, Southern Rep, Actor’s Express, Virginia Stage, and Williamstown Theater Festival.

Her career as an educator is as central to her artistry as her directing career. She spent many years as adjunct faculty at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (working with students in Undergraduate Drama, Graduate Acting, and Graduate Design). She was on the faculty at SUNY Stonybrook, and she has worked extensively at both The Curtis Institute of Music and at Juilliard. Prior to her appointment to Mannes Opera, she spent four years as the Professor of Opera Stage Direction at the University of Cincinnati’s CCM.

At Mannes Opera, she has directed Grace McLean’s In the Green, Cavali’s La Calisto, and Die Zauberflöte. She has produced workshops of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners, Christopher Cerrone’s In a Grove, Huang Ro’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, Greg Carpenter & Tracy K. Smith’s The Righetous (in partnership with Santa Fe Opera) and David T. Little’s Agamemnon (in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience).

Upcoming work includes Tesla, the Phil Kline/Jim Jarmusch opera/film/performance piece.

For pictures of my work, go to my Instagram.

For professional information, go to my LinkedIn profile.

If you would like a full resume or a C.V., access to videos of my work, or a press kit - please email me or my agent.

If you’d like more information about Mannes Opera, a performance program at the College of Performing Arts at The New School, you can look at our Instagram, Facebook, or website.

select credits
OPERA & NEW MUSIC

LA TRAVIATA - Wolf Trap Opera 2022
SWEENEY TODD - Wolf Trap Opera 2021
ELLEN WEST - Opera Saratoga & Beth Morrison Projects (world premiere) - 2019 & 2020
DON GIOVANNI - Juilliard Opera 2019
SWEENEY TODD - Curtis Opera Theater - 2018
MAHAGONNY/MEDIUM - Curtis Opera Theater 2018
CANDIDE - CCM 2017
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST - Opera Colorado - 2016
LA BOHEME - Crested Butte Music Festival - 2016
LA FESTE DU RUEL /  RENIEMENT DE ST. PIERRE - Catacoustic Consort - 2016
THREE DECEMBERS - Atlanta Opera - 2015
DON GIOVANNI - Boston Lyric Opera - 2015
THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN – Juilliard Opera - 2013
OUT COLD & ZIPPO SONGS – BAM Next Wave Festival - 2012
I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI - Curtis Opera Theater – 2012
THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN - Opera Philadelphia / Kimmel Center/ Curtis Opera Theater – 2011
LES MAMELLES DE TIRÉSIAS – Juilliard Opera – 2010
THE RAKE’S PROGRESS –The Curtis Opera Theater – 2009
WOZZECK – Opera Philadelphia / Kimmel Center/ Curtis Opera Theater – 2009
THIRTEEN NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES – Corey Dargel & I.C.E. – PS 122 – 2009
REMOVABLE PARTS – HERE , Under the Radar – 2009, 2008
STRETCH a fantasia – New Georges – 2008
POSTCARD FROM MOROCCO – Curtis Opera Theater – 2007
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE – Curtis Opera Theater – 2005
ZIPPO SONGS – MASS MoCA – 2004

select credits
THEATER

BOOM – Perseverance Theater – 2010
THE CLEAN HOUSE – Geva Theater Center – 2009
THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR – Perseverance Theater – 2008
THE DESIGNATED MOURNER – Salt Theater – 2008
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – Geva Theater Center – 2007, 2006
MISERY– Syracuse Stage – 2007
FIVE COURSE LOVE – The Minetta Lane Theater – 2005
100 ASPECTS OF THE MOON – Ethan Lipton – Clubbed Thumb at the Ohio Theater – 2005
PRIVATE LIVES –Virginia Stage Company – 2004
CONQUEST OF THE UNIVERSE OR WHEN QUEENS COLLIDE – Salt Theater - 2003 & 2004
BAT BOY THE MUSICAL - Southern Repertory Theater – 2003
SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE – Salt Theater - 2003
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF – Virginia Stage Company – 2002
GYPSY – Actor’s Express Theater – 2002
THE CHERRY ORCHARD – Salt Theater - 2002
STAGE DOOR – Salt Theater - 2000 & 2001
INKY - Salt Theater/Clubbed Thumb – 2000
THE MOTHER OF US ALL - Williamstown Theater Festival (as Boris Sagal Fellow) – 1998