Emily Lyon

Emily Lyon is a New York City-based director with 15+ years of experience shaping classic and contemporary texts. She is the co-founding Artistic Director of Expand the Canon – a call to action to include a global intersection of historic women playwrights in the classics. There, she researches all plays by all women and gender-expansive playwrights through history; the list has grown to over 11,000+ titles over the past six years. She has directed three full productions and seven readings of curated Expand the Canon plays, including at The Public Theater, American Shakespeare Center, and Island Shakespeare Festival. Expand the Canon highlights 52 plays by 50 historic gender-expansive writers from 1600-1990, and has partnered with companies across the country including Classic Stage Company, Fiasco Theater, American Shakespeare Center, Roundabout, INTAR, Island Shakespeare Festival, The Acting Company, the Folger, and more.

She also recently published a monologue book from those plays: 110 Standout Classic Monologues for Any Actor. In her freelance work, she has directed 10 world premieres, many classic plays, and worked with The Folger, NYU, University of Michigan, The Old Globe, The Brick, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, and others. As a freelance dramaturg, she’s worked with writers on shaping 30+ new plays, including the world premiere of Kate Hamill’s Sense & Sensibility and Diana Ly’s Sex and the Abbey, as well as editing classical texts, including many of the Expand the Canon plays, an English-Spanish bilingual Hamlet (readings at The Public, The Folger, CTH, TAC), and The Tempest directed by Michael Greif for Shakespeare in the Park. Her productions have won Best Direction and Best Production (sheNYC), Best Ensemble (MITF), Best Premiere (UnitedSolo). Drama League Directing Fellow, SDC Associate. She is delighted to be a Folger Artistic Research Fellow, particularly as she began her relationship at the Folger in 2007 as a selected participant of the Shakespeare’s Sisters course on women’s poetry. EmilyALyon.com, ExpandTheCanon.com