When Great Neck North High School alumnus Emma Meltzer earned a theater degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts last year, she was focused more on William Shakespeare than Beatrix Potter.
But her latest project is a star turn in “Molly Bloom-Lately” – a children’s play that will be featured at the New York Children’s Theater Festival in May, and which will see Meltzer step into the Keds of a third grade girl.
“The play is about Molly Bloom – she is a third grader who is very small for her age and gets picked on. She learns from this experience that everyone has something to share that’s wonderful about themselves,” Meltzer said. “I studied a lot of the classics and Shakespeare, which I really loved, but being introduced to children’s theater is an incredible thing to share with kids.”
Meltzer spoke enthusiastically about the role and the chance to send a positive message to a young audience.
But life-lessons aside, the part was also a literal good fit.
“I am an actor of very short stature myself, so whenever I see a listing like ‘looking for girls who are 5’1,’ that is me,” Meltzer said.
Meltzer saw an ad for the role in a trade magazine, auditioned and won the part. Rehearsals started this week, and Meltzer recently stepped into her costume for the first time – a key part of making any recent college graduate a plausible elementary schooler.
“It’s this lovely pink and red striped tunic,” Meltzer said. “I never wore Keds as a kid myself, but every children’s theater show I’ve been in I’ve worn Keds.”
Meltzer honed her craft in high school, and credited a theater seminar at Great Neck North High School with inspiring her to pursue a career in acting.
“I did all the plays there with the theater group at North,” Meltzer said.
But her theatrical roots trace back to her childhood – to a love of storytelling that Meltzer said is at the heart of her desire to perform.
She and her twin sister put themselves in the spotlight at an early age, she said.
“We danced all through our childhood,” said Meltzer.
And watching her grandfather, a rabbi, spin stories for rapt audiences also left a big impression.
“Watching him speak when I was younger really made an impression on me,” said Meltzer. “I remember watching him and being very moved.”
Meltzer earned her theater degree from Tisch through her studies at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
The 2nd Annual New York Children’s Theater Festival will open on Friday April 19 and run through Sunday May 5 at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
“Molly Bloom-Lately” will close the festival on May 5.
