Emma Ashford

Emma is a songwriter, playwright, and performer originally from California, now based in Brooklyn. A 2024-25 Dramatists Guild Writing Fellow, Emma's musical Miss America (prev. Heartbeats, O'Neill NMTC Semi-Finalist '26, JMF Writer's Grove at Goodspeed 2025, UMICH New Works Series 2025) had an industry reading this past Fall ft. Alli Mauzey, Jordan Tyson, and more. 

Emma's play The Light Place was named a 2025 BAPF Semi-Finalist. Her songs from 1660 VINE (directed by NYTW's Patricia McGregor, available to license with MTI and stream on Amazon Prime) have been recognized at IndieFEST, Vegas Movie Awards, & Indie Filmmaker Awards.

Emma's music has been performed all over NYC, including at The Second City and The Musical Theatre Factory. She is graduate of University of Michigan's BFA Musical Theatre program with a Minor MT Composition, and a proud member of DGF, ASCAP, AEA, and SAG-AFTRA.

At Woodward, Emma will be working on an immersive musical farce set in the elite child care ecosystem of NYC with comedian Isabel Renner, as well as a new piece that explores the increasingly inhuman expectations of first responders and police officers as they train for what has become a ubiquitously American disaster: the mass shooting.