Beth A Emelson

BETH EMELSON is the Director of Producing and the Associate Director of Programming and Performance for Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. While at Folger Theatre they have won four Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Play (Measure for Measure, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew and Sense and Sensibility) in six consecutive seasons. In addition to her producing work in theater, poetry, music and the other areas of performance at the Folger, she also produced seven full audio versions of the Folger Shakespeare Library editions for the Folger publisher, Simon and Schuster.

Prior to her move to Washington DC, she served as the Producing Director for Atlantic Theater Company and Classic Stage Company in New York City.  While at Atlantic she produced Writer’s Block, written and directed by Woody Allen; Blue/Orange and The Butter and Egg Man, both named the “Best Plays of the Season” by The New York Times and Time Out/New York.  Some of the world premieres she produced at Classic Stage include The Misanthrope with Uma Thurman and Roger Rees, Texts for Nothing with Bill Irwin, and a seminal and award-winning production of Waiting for Godot with Christopher Lloyd, Tony Shalhoub and John Turturro. 

Her work extends beyond the theater to film and television. She is the Signature Programs Producer for the Nantucket Film Festival devising live events at an annual film festival. These include Ben Stiller’s All-Star Comedy Roundtable which brings a roster of comedy’s brightest stars for an engaging and insightful conversation; The Screenwriter’s Tribute, an annual awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievement; and storytelling, community-based performances. Many of these events were also recorded for distribution.

She is a member of Naked Angels theater company where she is currently on the Board of Directors. She has served as the Producing Director of the organization as well as producing many of the company’s main stage shows and benefits including the world-premieres of the Tony Award-winning Side Man by Warren Leight, Time on Fire written and performed by Evan Handler, and Lobby Hero, The Waverly Gallery and Starry Messenger by Kenneth Lonergan.

Beth was also the Assistant Executive Producer at Lincoln Center Theater and on the staff of The Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Public.   

She has also produced several short films, a comedy series for HBO and performances for the Tribeca Film Festival.

She is an adjunct professor at New York University.