BLYTHEWOOD – This spring, Blythewood’s Emma Imholz, 23, debuted off-Broadway as a cast member of The Trojans, a modern musical loosely based on The Iliad, which ran from March 19 to April 19 at The Cell theater in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
In a March 28 review, The New Yorker magazine called the performance a “gorgeously produced downtown epic… rich in the way that theatre is meant to be rich – with imagination, intelligence, and potential,” and described it as a place “to see stunning talents… before everyone else hears about them.”
Imholz, who lives in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, spoke with The Voice about landing this first exciting foothold in the New York theater world.
“What I did in the production is called a swing,” Imholz said. “Rather than understudying or covering one character, I was swinging all 13 roles, from the ensemble members to the principals.”
Imholz had to be ready to play any of the parts, at any moment. Although an immense undertaking, Imholz said it was a thrill to land the complex role.
“I’ve wanted to swing rolls since I was 12, when I was cast in A Christmas Carol at Dollywood. The swings in that production each covered four or five roles, and I remember watching them jump into performances seamlessly. I was like, wow – that’s what I want to do!”
Imholz said the first time “officially swinging” turned out to be a fantastic experience.
“It was a lot of fun to jump in and play with the characters. It kept things fresh to jump from role to role and see the material from different perspectives,” Imholz said. “I learned to trust myself more as a performer.
“I originally auditioned for the main girl, Heather,” Imholz said. “I was called back a couple of times, and the auditions went really well, but they ended up choosing someone older for the part. A few weeks later, I was asked to fill in for her temporarily, and that snowballed into, ‘maybe we do need more coverage. Maybe you could swing.’
“I kind of advocated for myself in that moment – I told them that swing work is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I was available. And so that’s what ended up happening.”
After home school graduation in 2018, Imholz moved to New York at 17 to attend the musical theater conservatory program at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Graduating from AMDA in February 2020, right before Covid shut everything down in March. Imholz made the choice to come back to South Carolina for almost eight months.
“Even though it was a loss of the momentum I’d built up in school,” Imholz said, “it was such a good opportunity to sit with myself and re-evaluate the path I was on. If I hadn’t had that, I don’t think I would be as happy and secure as I am now.”
Imholz returned to New York in August 2020, as things were slowly opening back up, and was able to find a job working at a flower shop on the Upper East Side.
Since then, things have only gotten busier. Imholz has settled into the life of a working New York actor: trying to fit a flexible day job (now waiting tables at a restaurant) around the “constant grind” of auditions.
“I love returning to Blythewood on the holidays, and whenever there’s an opportunity,” Imholz said.
“When I’m there, I always go to Groucho’s,” Imholz said with a laugh. “It’s a non-negotiable. I order a Feta salad, kettle-cooked chips, and a pint of 45 sauce– for dipping purposes, you know?
“It’s thrilling to be living my life’s dream and finding musical theater success in New York. But underneath all the glamour,” Imholz said, “it’s the core values of theater that are most deeply valued, whether as a performer or an audience member.
“The whole point,” Imholz said, “is that you go into this place, and you, yourself, where you are in your life, are profoundly affected by the story being told there.”
