Emika Abe | Field Advisor

Emika Abe is an independent arts consultant who was most recently Managing Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC), a field-leading home for boundary-pushing new plays. Emika stewarded the $5 million theatre through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving financial and organizational stability, including securing over $2.5 million in extraordinary government support. While at Woolly, Emika led the staff and board through a 5-year strategic planning process, nearly doubled the racial diversity on the board, overhauled HR policies and practices to better align with anti-racism values, increased ticket access, and produced the Tony Award-winning musical, A STRANGE LOOP, the theatre’s first commercially enhanced show.

Emika was a founding leader of the Professional Nonprofit Theatre Coalition, a national advocacy group that ensured nonprofit theatres were included in the $7.5 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grants. Emika serves on the Editorial Board for the Yale Theatre Management Knowledge Base. She previously served on Theatre Washington’s Taking Care Committee to distribute funds to local theatre makers in need; the Advisory Board for Found Stages, a site-specific new work theatre in Atlanta; and the League of Resident Theatres’ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington, LEAD Atlanta, and Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta. With an MFA in Theater Management from Yale School of Drama and an MBA from Yale School of Management, Emika is passionate about the essential role that theatre can play in activating individuals and strengthening communities.

Previous professional experience includes the Alliance Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Theatre Group, Artists Repertory Theatre, and the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre. Emika has proudly served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and TheatreForward. She has presented at national conferences including Theatre Communications Group, Tessitura, National Arts Marketing Project, League of Resident Theatres, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and Berkshire Leadership Summit. Emika has guest lectured at universities including Yale, Northwestern, University of Indiana, and University of North Carolina.