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A rising sophomore majoring in data science and dance at Northwestern University is back home in San Ramon this summer while she is currently making her San Francisco debut in the musical “Evita” – her biggest production to date following nearly a lifetime in the performing arts.
Emily Kessel, who graduated from California High School in 2022, is a switch performer in the ongoing production from San Francisco Playhouse, playing six different characters depending on the show date and gleaning wisdom from her castmates as the youngest actor in the production.
“I got into theater at a very young age,” Kessel told Embarcadero Media Foundation. “My mom put me in every possible activity you can think of, and I think the one thing that just stuck was everything that had to do with theater and the arts and anything like that.”
Kessel grew up exploring school and regional theater opportunities prior to shifting her attention to competitive dance in high school, ultimately returning to theater in her senior year for Cal High’s production of “Mean Girls”.
“Throughout my childhood and now, I’ve looked for every opportunity to perform and to train, and I’ve done a lot of community theater around the Bay Area and I’ve done a few regional theater productions,” Kessel said. “But I would definitely say this my biggest role that I’ve landed.”
Although the San Francisco Playhouse production of “Evita” marks Kessel’s debut on a San Francisco stage and her most significant gig to date, it’s not her first time bringing the 1978 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical showcasing the story of former Argentine First Lady Eva Perón to a local stage to life for a Bay Area audience.
“I actually did ‘Evita’ when I was 10 years old at a community theater in Sunnyvale,” Kessel said. “It was a really fun show, and when I found out that I got in, I was just really excited because it has some of my favorite music and there’s a lot of dancing in it.”
While Kessel’s passion and time were consumed by the heavy training and performance schedule required for competitive dancers, leaving a years-long gap in her formal theater career during high school, she said that her experience as a competitive dancer and currently as a dance major had also served to help hone her theater skills in the present day.
“There are really very few people that are more hard-working than dancers,” Kessel said. “I used to be at the studio 24 hours a week just training in all styles, and it’s a very artistic endeavor, which is something that I enjoy personally. Especially with musicals, there’s a lot of dancing, so I think it’s given me an edge in theater for sure, and it’s definitely one of my favorite aspects of theater.”
The current production has given Kessel the opportunity to flex her existing skills, with the rehearsal experience and working with her castmates also providing valuable insight into the life of professional actors.
“It’s been really amazing to work with this cast, because everyone is so experienced and so talented, and I feel like I’ve just been learning so much about this business,” Kessel said. “They’ve talked about their past experience and I just feel like I’ve learned a lot about being a professional actor, and just watching their methods of learning the stagework and the choreography and the music.”
The current production is not just a musical but a rock opera – one of Kessel’s favorite genres – with what she describes as particularly poignant choreography.
“I think that’s one of the most dynamic parts of the show,” Kessel said. “Our ensemble is very strong and they’re on stage in almost every number, and they’re just killing it every night.”
Kessel is among the five swing performers in the current production directed by Tim Rice, giving her the opportunity to explore a number of different roles every night of the production that runs through this fall.
“I cover six different characters,” Kessel said. “They’re all members of the ensemble, but they actually play a million different roles throughout the show. I start as what they refer to in the show as the ‘shirtless ones’, and they’re the poor people who are just looking for something to believe in, a ray of hope, and those are the people who sort of elevate Eva Perón to her status as a sort of spiritual leader of Argentina.”
“I also play an aristocrat, and those are the people of England and France who are sort of in charge of the country,” she continued. “They’re very rich and they sort of call the shots at the time, and Eva Perón, one of her goals is to sort of overthrow them.”
“Evita” is set for performances every night other than Mondays in the San Francisco Playhouse at 450 Post St. in San Francisco through Sept. 7. Tickets and more information are available at sfplayhouse.org.
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