Emma Rosa Went is an award-winning theatre director who makes new and classic-text plays. Her work is heartfelt, intimate, collaborative, and sexy. Upcoming in fall of 2026: the world-premiere of Degenerates by Else Went, at Playwrights Horizons.

Emma directed the world-premiere of Else’s 5-hour epic Initiative at the Public in 2025, described by Sara Holdren in New York Mag as “bracing and compassionate” and “profoundly moving.” The production was listed as #5 of Vulture’s Best Plays of 2025, and received a Lucille Lortel Nomination for Outstanding Ensemble. Emma, Else, and the company were collectively awarded a Drama Desk Special Award for their collaboration, citing “the richness of a shared language” and “the magic that can be found in devoting time to process.”

Else and Emma have also developed and presented work off-broadway and regionally with MTC, NYTW, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Mercury Store, The Tank, Breaking the Binary, Playing on Air, and other venues.

Emma has directed about a dozen of Shakespeare's plays, including As You Like It for the Public (Mobile Unit, ‘26';) Romeo and Juliet (Hudson Valley Shakespeare, tour;) & Much Ado About Nothing (Opera House Arts.) She has received commission/residency support from both Hudson Valley Shakespeare and the Public for her work on Two Noble Kinsmen, and she has been co-directing Hamlet with Will Frears at Mercury Store and Coffey St. Studio since 2021 — more info coming soon.

From 2024-26, Emma was on staff as the inaugural Directing Fellow at the Public Theater. She is a frequent lead-artist at Mercury Store, and an alum of the Drama League Directors Project, SDCF Observership Program, and OSF FAIR Program. She has taught or guest-lectured at Marymount Manhattan College, Brooklyn College, Freeman Studio, and (her alma mater) Sarah Lawrence College.

Emma is a Member of SDC, and she is represented by WME. She lives in Brooklyn, with her wife Else and cat Fiona. // Substack.