Kind Words
Emily writes fantastic male leads, but more importantly at this time in the world, she writes sensational female leads. Her stories feel real, emotionally raw, and always have a splash of the mystical in some shape or form. She wrote for me the first lead part I ever got to play in a play, and it provided an opportunity I had not yet had at my acting training institute. Without that beautifully written, layered character and the power of her words, I would not have been ready to play Christopher in Curious Incident on Broadway. In addition to her talent as a writer, she is genuinely one of the kindest people I have met on this 'ere planet of ours. I would be lost at sea without her friendship and that unusual, brilliant brain of hers.
—Alex Sharp, actor and Tony Award winner for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Emily has a ringing ear for dialogue and contemporary speech — and with a gentle turn of phrase, she often plunges her audience into a rich, theatrical world.
—Tanya Barfield, playwright
Emily writes transcendent comedies that effortlessly braid character and politics, stinging barbs, and beating heart. If I had a theater, I'd program her. If I had a show, I'd staff her. If I had a hammer, I'd hammer all over the world, but that's not Emily that's Pete Seeger (who could only dream of having the folksy wit of Emily Bohannon).
—Mike Lew, playwright
It was so clear to me when I first encountered Emily’s writing that she accesses her own talent as an actor to create unique, complex, and truthful roles for actors. Emily herself is an artist of great depth who brings her fantastic sense of humor and intelligence to all of her creative endeavors. She is generous yet rigorous with herself and her collaborators, and I’m so happy to champion her work whenever I have the opportunity.
—Jessi D. Hill, director
Emily's work has a tenacity, a grit, and a sweetness that rarely combine in such equal parts. She writes with a sense of purpose, a calling to bring forward stories that are unabashedly female, stories that embrace the strength and complexity of the feminine. She is an artist of enormous rigor and deep instinct.
—Anna O'Donoghue, actor
I love Emily's curiosity and expansiveness as a writer. She always digs deep and mines the unexpected. Her characters are rich and conflicted. An Emily play is a feast. She is also a delight.
—Cusi Cram, playwright
Emily Bohannon’s work always makes me feel like I’m sitting right in the room with the characters, living their lives with them.
—Julian Sheppard, playwright
Emily Bohannon’s writing is one of the real pleasures of theatre today. Her work sheds light on characters seldom seen onstage, driven by a search for meaning in a vastness beyond the confines of New York or even America. I truly feel transported by the worlds she creates.
—Adam Knight, director