Emily Rainbow Davis

Emily Rainbow Davis writes for Messenger Theatre Company, which she co-founded and runs. Her plays include: SEEING INSIDE (St. Ann’s Warehouse,) PERSEPHONE, THE GREAT GOD MONEY, THE ENEMY, LITTLE GIRL STEW, DAPHNE (Carnegie Mellon’s radio series,) FIG. A: THE HEART, THE LAST AMERICAN COWBOY, MYTHELLANEOUS, THE KITCHEN PLAY, THE GOLDEN APPLE: FOR THE FAIREST, THE DIVINE BOVINE TREE, THE WAITING ROOM and DAUGHTERS OF MEMORY. Emily completed her MFA in Dramatic Art at University of California, Davis. Her play for young people, THE DOOR WAS OPEN, was developed through a space grant at Flushing Town Hall. Additionally, Emily blogs at Songs for the Struggling Artist (over 58,000 views), The Hamlet Project (over 115,000 views) and has had articles published in The Feldenkrais Journal, SenseAbility and Voices. Emily’s play, MEDUSA SLAIN BY PERSEUS was a semi-finalist for the 2018 Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center National Playwrights Conference, semi-finalist for OCHRE PARK and a finalist with ERRORS BEFORE ERRORS for Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries. Emily produces and hosts two solo podcasts, Songs for the Struggling Artist (the blogcast) and Leandra’s Lost Library and is currently producing an audio drama podcast for Messenger Theatre Company called THE DRAGONING.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
https://www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/
FB: emilyrdavis
TW: @erainbowd
IG: @messengertheatre, @songsforthestrugglingartist

MORE ABOUT ME
There are so many moments in my theatre life that make me want to give up, that make me question whether I’ve dedicated my life to the wrong art. Over the years, I’ve seen so much crap, so much compromise, so much ego, so much selling out, so much shady dealing, so much sexism, so much racism, so much shouting, so much soullessness.  There have been so many times that I’ve wondered why I continue to let theatre break my heart. Because theatre breaks my heart pretty much every time I put on another show and each time I do, I ask myself again, “Why do I do this? Why do I put myself through this agony? Why do I think I love theatre when it clearly doesn’t love me?” 

But seeing some extraordinary work by women artists much older than me made me realize that it’s possible that I could make the best work of my life over twenty years from now. That even though I have often felt that my prime has passed (I have, to my regret, internalized that only young women are valuable) my prime is much more likely to be in the future. I learned that time might distill this cluster of longings and ideas and furies and hopes into something transformative – not just for me but for an audience.

I am learning to take the long view in an ever-alarming, ever-panicked present moment. 

Though we very well might be forgotten when we are gone (or even forgotten while we are here) someone somewhere in the future, might resurrect us for their transformative art. We keep creating in the darkest hours. We make because we must, because something captivates us, even if it breaks our hearts.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
The final episode of my podcast about women who turn into dragons (The Dragoning) will come out shortly and I just printed out the first draft of Season Two. I'm not sure if there will be a season two but I'm going to start editing it, just in case.  

KEYWORDS
Mythic, dramedy, comedy, tragedy, Feminist​