Our Staff

Emily Garven (she/her), Artistic Director

Emily Garven is an accomplished theater educator, director, and arts administrator with over 15 years of experience creating inclusive, community-centered theater. She currently teaches theater and dance at Boston Green Academy, where she founded and grew a vibrant new theater program that has quickly become a hub of creativity and collaboration.

Beyond the classroom, Emily has 15+ years of experience as a theater director, producer, and consultant. She founded and led Inspiration Performing Arts from 2009 to 2021, a program dedicated to making theater accessible to underserved communities, and built it into an organization offering classes, national performance tours, large-scale productions, and community service through arts outreach. She is also the founder of Sharing the Spotlight, a theater program for individuals with special needs, and a proud board member for Uncommon Theater and the Young Professionals Board for Rodman for Kids.

Emily is passionate about creating inclusive programming for students with disabilities and opening new avenues for young people to engage with theater through playwriting, critique, and collaborative creation. She presented at the 2025 American Alliance For Theatre & Education (AATE), sharing practical strategies and a toolkit for launching inclusive, trauma-informed theater programs in under-resourced schools, with focus on sustainability, advocacy, and engagement.

She holds a Master’s in Arts Administration and certification in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for Theater from Inclusive Stages. Her vision for ACT centers on expanding programming that fosters artistic growth, diversity, and community engagement, with a strong emphasis on hands-on training for young artists in performance, design, technical theater, and leadership.

Roisin Dowling, Director of Operations (she/her)

Roisin is a Boston-based stage manager with credits including Moonbox Productions, Whitesnake Projects, and Cambridge Chamber Ensemble. Roisin holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theater from Emerson College and an M.A. in Education from DePaul University.

Drew O’Connors: Technical Director (he/him)

Drew is thrilled to be serving as the Technical Director for ACT. With a passion for working with kids, Drew has been involved in several youth and touring theatre companies as a scenic carpenter, audio engineer, and technical director for over a decade. Drew’s love for theatre and dedication to the craft is evident in the quality of their work. He is excited to be a part of this organization and looks forward to bringing their expertise to the stage. Drew is the founding instructor of the Multimedia Engineering Program at Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School, where he helped to design and build their state-of-the-art, fully-configurable performance venue.

David Allen Flowers: Resident Music Director (he/him)

David Flowers is a music director, conductor, and composer in the Boston area. In addition to his role as assistant professor at the Berklee College of Music, he has recently served as music director for productions at the Priscilla Beach Theatre, the Stonehill College Theatre company, the Marblehead Little Theatre and as pit-conductor for the Weston Friendly Society. He is proud to be serving as the Resident Music Director for the Arlington Children’s Theatre, which he has called his home theatre since MD’ing ACT’s “Matilda”, in 2022.