Erin Riley is a classically trained director, actor, and playwright living and working in the Baltimore-Washington DC region. She holds her degree in Classical Performance and Theatre Studies from Notre Dame of Maryland University and received her specialized classical training at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. Erin specializes in adapting classical stories for modern audiences and her update of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has been produced nine times since its debut in 2019, but has most recently made its professional debut at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. She is a Maryland State Arts Council Creativity Grant recipient for her forthcoming dream play The Midnight Crow and Other Birds about Elizabeth I, Mary Stuart and Anne Boleyn. She is also currently in the process of adapting Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. and has cast her eye towards another American Classic to be announced soon.
Erin has directed critically acclaimed pieces including her own adaptation of Litle Women, Blood Countess, Detroit ’67, and Origin of the Species at Strand Theater Company, Richard III and Julius Caesar with The Company of Women, Vinegar Tom at Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theater, and the American Premiere of Six Dead Queens…and an Inflatable Henry with the Mobtown Players. She is the recipient of the 2021 BroadwayWorld Baltimore Award for Best Direction of a Streaming Play and the 2019 BroadwayWorld Baltimore award for Best Direction of a Play or Musical for Julius Caesar. Additionally, she is the 2016 Baltimore United Local Small and Hidden Independent Theater award-winner for Outstanding Direction of a Play for Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Erin has also performed in dozens of plays and musicals since the tender age of twelve. Favorite roles include Helen in Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig, The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure, Lady Macduff in Macbeth, and Mrs. Peachum in Threepenny Opera.
Erin is genuinely interested in projects that feature strong woman-identifying points of view, promote inclusivity, strive for equity, and celebrate the diversity of our rich artistic tapestry. She is an advocate for fat positivity and body neutrality, is a staunch ally of the LGBTQIA+ community, and believes all humans are perfectly made, just as they are.
On a personal level – Erin is a voracious reader, a huge fan of the beach, and is a proud cat mom. Her favorite Starburst flavor is Orange (don’t @ her, she cannot be convinced otherwise) and she will never stop loving the Baltimore Orioles. She is also staunch believer in the power of kindness and dreams of an America that loves and accepts, cares and supports, rather than hates, shames, and divides.
Life of Riley 