Emma is a playwright: her play Shakespeare's Sister has been published by Samuel French, and received its international premiere at the American Shakespeare Center in Spring 2016 (dir. Jim Warren). Shakespeare's Sister is a period drama: inspired by the tale told by Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own, it imagines the story of aspiring playwright Judith Shakespeare, who runs away to London to join the players, and tries to stage her play in difficult and dangerous circumstances. Shakespeare's Sister won the Masterclass 'Pitch Your Play' competition and was performed in staged readings at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and King's College London, as part of the Shakespeare400 celebrations, and staged by third-year drama students at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in Wandsworth, London. Forthcoming productions include performances at the Vermont Shakespeare Festival, and at Bangs High School, Texas.

Emma has written an adaptation of Sense and Sensibility (with Brian McMahon) for the American Shakespeare Center's 2017-2018 US tour (dir. Stephanie Holladay Earl), which ends in a run at the ASC's Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia. It is forthcoming from Samuel French. She is currently working on a new adaptation of Austen's Emma. ​Emma has also written a comic skit, 'In Search of Shakespeare', for the ASC 2017 Gala.

​Her short play 'A Puppet Tale' was staged in an Old Vic New Voices showcase (dir. Asia Osborne), and has been published online for Litro magazine; and her short play 'Time to Go' appeared in the chain play 'Ave It (dir. Natalie Ibu) in the Coming Up Later Festival at the Old Vic Tunnels.

Emma is currently working on a re-imagining of Dracula for Arts Council-funded theatre company Reverend Productions, and on a play drawing on the true story of the Belvoir Castle witches, Bonfire of Flowers.

Emma's academic work informs her playwriting, and her creative practice develops her academic interests: she is working with Lucy Munro (King's College London) on a project on early modern verbatim theatre, collaborating with early modern historians and contemporary verbatim theatre practitioners to explore ways of re-creating the lost play Keep the Widow Waking. 

Press

Shakespeare's Sister

www.thestage.co.uk/advice/2016/best-books-for-theatre-professionals-may-9/

www.theparagonjournal.com/single-post/2017/04/09/“Prostitute-to-the-Pen”-Emma-Whipday’s-Opening-Run-of-Her-Play-Shakespeare’s-Sister

http://www.marybaldwin.edu/shakespeare/2017/03/02/shared-light-shakespeares-sister/

augustafreepress.com/world-premiere-shakespeares-sister-blackfriars-playhouse/

www.newsleader.com/story/entertainment/2017/02/22/world-premiere-opens-american-shakespeare-center-shakespeares-sister-staunton-theater/98255728/

www.shakespeareances.com/willpower/nonshakespeare/Shakespeare_Sister-01-ASC17.html

http://wvtf.org/post/shakespeares-sister-takes-bow-blackfriars [Radio]

http://digital.vpr.net/post/vermont-shakespeare-festivals-salon-series-breaks-through-fourth-wall#stream/0​

Sense and Sensibility

http://www.playbill.com/article/shakespeare-in-love-tops-most-produced-plays-of-20172018

http://www.americantheatre.org/2017/09/21/the-top-10-most-produced-plays-of-the-2017-18-season/

In Search of Shakespeare

http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2017/09/14/face-nations-bob-schieffer-takes-stage-american-shakespeare-centers-gala/667705001/