Director Emily Mann leads a yoga session with cast and crew of the Susan Miller’s world premiere of 20th Century Blues, in NYC ,November 2017. The play starred: Beth Dixon (Major Barbara), Franchelle Stewart Dorn (Tis Pity She’s a Whore), Polly Draper (“thirtysomething”), Kathryn Grody (Top Girls), Ellen Parker (The Heidi Chronicles), and Charles Socarides (Sons of the Prophet).

I started doing yoga with my cast 17 years ago. Everyone liked it so much I’ve continued. I do half an hour at the start of each rehearsal with everyone in the room — actors, stage managers and designers. It clears the mind and prepares us for the emotional work of the day. Actors have found that it makes it easier for them to learn their lines, and it gives us all energy and clarity for rehearsal. The practice of Yoga is much like the practice of acting: you must continuously find what’s right and true for you in the present moment.

                      — Emily Mann

Emily Mann (Director) has overseen 150+ productions as Artistic Director and Resident Playwright of the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. This spring Mann will direct the McCarter-commissioned World Premiere of Chris Durang’s Turning Off the Morning News. She is also writing a play with Gloria Steinem to premiere fall of 2018. Awards include: Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations; Peabody, Hull Warriner, NAACP, OBIEs, Guggenheim fellowship; Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwrights’ Award, and the Margo Jones Award honoring a “citizen-of-the theatre who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere.”