Emily Klion

Founder and Executive Director

(she/her)

Emily specializes in collaborating with artists from all disciplines, creating and producing new works of theater for youth with an emphasis on social justice. Emily has been teaching music and theatre to youth for nearly 40 years, and enjoys creating music for SFYT’s original productions.

Before founding SFYT in 2014, Emily was the artistic director of the Marsh Youth Theater and San Francisco Day School’s Center Stage. She is the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Music Composition and Direction, the American Harmony Prize, and the Rex Foundation’s Jerry Garcia Award for promoting creativity in youth. In 2019 she was on the founding faculty of the Centre for Indian and Western Music in Shillong, India. Emily has a BA and MA from Mills College in music composition and is certified in Orff Schulwerk music pedagogy.