"guts-on-the-table theater”
- New York Mag

Emma Rosa Went is an award-winning director who makes new and classic-text plays. Her work is heartfelt, intimate, character-driven, and sexy.

Emma collaborates most frequently with her wife, the playwright Else Went — their work off-broadway has been critically acclaimed ("the Wents are particular wizards when it comes to eliciting fully released, brazenly exhilarating work from actors" -Sara Holdren, NY Mag;) ("their collaboration has quickly become one of the most exciting theatrical partnerships in New York" -Theatermania) and includes:

The world-premiere of Degenerates at Playwrights Horizons (NYT Critic’s Pick!) now playing through Nov 1st (“a brave, ambitious, sad and sexy beast of a play” -Vulture;) and their joint debut, the world-premiere of Else’s 5-hour epic Initiative at the Public, which 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 developed and presented work off-broadway & regionally with the Public, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, NYTW, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Mercury Store, The Tank, Playing on Air, and other venues.

Emma has also 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 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. 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 Else and their cat Fiona. // Substack.