Emma Gibson

Emma Gibson

Emma lives between Philadelphia, USA and Sussex, UK. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Southampton. In the UK she worked as an actress and a freelance journalist for The Guardian Newspaper. She moved to Philadelphia in 2006 and was the founding producing artistic director of Tiny Dynamite for which she was a winner of the Knight Arts Challenge and received a Pew Center for...
Emma lives between Philadelphia, USA and Sussex, UK. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Southampton. In the UK she worked as an actress and a freelance journalist for The Guardian Newspaper. She moved to Philadelphia in 2006 and was the founding producing artistic director of Tiny Dynamite for which she was a winner of the Knight Arts Challenge and received a Pew Center for Arts & Heritage award for her production of Perfect Blue.

Her plays have been selected, developed, read or performed at The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, PlayPenn Conference, People's Light & Theatre, PCPA, Purple Rose Theatre, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival, Spooky Action Theatre Company, Miranda Theatre Company NYC, Dreamcatchers Rep, Wordsmyth Theater, Vivid Stage, Panndora Productions, Pomona College, and Digital Theatre. She was the winner of The Pittsburgh Public Theater’s inaugural new play competition in 2021. She was a runner up for the Ambassador Theatre Group Playwriting Prize with Platform Presents, 2023, on the longlist for the Women's Prize for Playwriting, 2023, She has been a finalist and a semi-finalist for The O'Neill New Play Conference (2021, 2020), a finalist for Seven devils Playwright conference, a finalist for Headwaters at Creede Rep 2021, a finalist for Kitchen Dog’s New Works Festival 2020, two time finalist for the Henley Rose New Play Competition 2021, two time finalist for the Blue Ink Award with the American Blues Theater 2022 and 2023, a finalist for The Princess Grace Award (2023), a finalist for Normal Ave Nap Series (2023), a semi-finalist for Premiere Stages at Keane 2020, a semi-finalist for Ashland New Plays 2021 and The Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2021 and 2023. She was in the top 100 for the Verity Bargate Award at The Soho Theatre, UK, and on the short list for The International Playwriting Award with Theatre 503, UK and The Papatango New Writing Award.. Her Poetry has been published by Willowdown Books (Poems from the Lockdown) and Indolent Books (What Rough Beast).
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Plays

  • If nobody does remarkable things by Emma Gibson
    Recommendations: 13
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: climate change, motherhood + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: climate change, motherhood, postpartum depression, first love, forgiveness, space, international space station
    This afternoon, in the middle of a category 6 dust storm, a cargo ship took refuge in the local harbor. Joel is on board and he needs somewhere to stay. Paul thinks they should rescue him but Anna’s not so sure. Not after what Joel did 14 years ago. A fierce new play about climate change and forgiveness that explores what happens when we reach the point of no return.
  • LUMIN by Emma Gibson
    Recommendations: 8
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    Cast: 
    4–100
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    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller
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    Keyword: cult, QAnon + 7 more
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: cult, QAnon, motherhood, journalism, belief, faith, community. pigs, rituals, delusion
    The pigs are stressed, Liv won’t eat, and Ma wants everyone to follow the Constitutions. Set in a modern-day commune on the outskirts of the Chihuahuan desert in Texas, this new play about our need for community, asks why the line between delusion and what the rest of us believe, is getting blurrier than ever.


  • When We Fall by Emma Gibson
    Recommendations: 5
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: loneliness, female friendship + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: loneliness, female friendship, magical realism, fall, life after 50, bullying, suicide, trains, dress up, superman
    7.7 billion people on earth and everyone is lonely. Perhaps. Trina definitely is, even though tonight is her birthday and she’s going to party like it’s 1982. But when Andrew and Clare turn up as Superman and Little Bo Peep, the ache of loneliness fills the night. Even Dalir senses it from the roof top, somewhere between London and Pakistan, and now he has to do something about it.

    A new play...
    7.7 billion people on earth and everyone is lonely. Perhaps. Trina definitely is, even though tonight is her birthday and she’s going to party like it’s 1982. But when Andrew and Clare turn up as Superman and Little Bo Peep, the ache of loneliness fills the night. Even Dalir senses it from the roof top, somewhere between London and Pakistan, and now he has to do something about it.

    A new play about learning to fly, telling stories, and finding friendship in unexpected places.
  • Water In My Hands by Emma Gibson
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
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    Keyword: grief, loss + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: grief, loss, women, cancer, wedding, madness, death
    Sorrel is busy preparing for her wedding even though her fiancé has just died, and Maria’s eyebrows are still not growing back. Gerry wants to know if the weather will improve so that he can lie on his back in the grass, and Eric’s wife has someone else’s heart beating inside her.

    Through a series of interweaving accounts, Water in My Hands, lays bare the power of grief, and asks, ‘how do we move...
    Sorrel is busy preparing for her wedding even though her fiancé has just died, and Maria’s eyebrows are still not growing back. Gerry wants to know if the weather will improve so that he can lie on his back in the grass, and Eric’s wife has someone else’s heart beating inside her.

    Through a series of interweaving accounts, Water in My Hands, lays bare the power of grief, and asks, ‘how do we move on when we are haunted by the life that we have not yet lived?’
  • A dog is a creature of a nose by Emma Gibson
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: dark comedy, mystery/thriller
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    Keyword: short play, dogs + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: short play, dogs, murder, love, manicures, forest, gardening, mystery, smell
    Beth has a dog. A fantastic casserole of a dog. The spaniel makes her loyal. The pit bull makes her fierce, and the bloodhound makes her hunt. And today she's found something quite extraordinary.

  • Adam + Rose by Emma Gibson
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama, zoom
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    Keyword: separation, grief + 5 more
    Genre: drama, zoom
    Keyword: separation, grief, loss, nature, insects, screen, telekinesis
    Adam’s gone and Rose needs to speak to him. Even if it means lying on the forest floor. Sometimes we just need to find new ways to communicate. A new play about the pain of separation and the love that will get us through.
  • moments when I wasn't good enough by Emma Gibson
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: love, quiz + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, romantic comedy
    Keyword: love, quiz, dogs, personality, weather, insecurity, under confidence
    A ten-minute play about getting to know someone
  • The Returning by Emma Gibson
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama, fable/folktale
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    Keyword: climate change, pearl diver + 7 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale
    Keyword: climate change, pearl diver, extinction, apocalypse, family, ancestors, love, marriage, food insecurity
    A pearl diver, a bride and a mother's lives intersect as they connect to the rhythms and challenges of the planet. Commissioned as part of The Climate Change Theatre Action's series, 'All good things must begin'