Emily Ernst Bio

Emily Ernst (Artistic Director) is an actor, director, and movement coach. Prior to her role at DCT, she was the co-founder and Artistic Director of Fair Assembly and Associate Artistic Director at the River & Rail Theatre, a company founded by SMU Alumni in Knoxville, TN. As an educator, Emily has taught at Booker T. Washington HSPVA (Advanced Acting), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Cistercian Prep, Junior Players, and led the Theatre Arts Academy at the Lincoln Playhouse. For the past two years with Junior Players, Emily has led the female cohort of Shakespeare with Henry: the first youth-focused Shakepseare in Prison program in the state of Texas. Emily has held staff positions with Teatro Dallas, Cry Havoc Theatre company, The Lincoln Community Playhouse, TACA, Flatwater Shakespeare Company, and Theatre for a New Audience: an Off-Broadway theatre based in the BAM cultural district for Shakespeare and Classic Drama. Recent directing projects include Fiddler on the Roof (UNT) It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (River & Rail), Mame (The Lincoln Playhouse), The Little Prince (River & Rail) The Music Man Jr. (Cistercian Prep), and King Lear (Fair Assembly). Emily is a graduate of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris (2017-2018), and is a fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture.