Star Keeper

STAR KEEPER is a searing solo performance created and performed by Emily Michaels King that opens the Rubbermaid tub of childhood to examine innocence, its tragic loss, and the harrowing journey of remembering. A shimmering world of stuffed animals, dress up clothes, and imagination, meets the strange realms of memory and the shadowy places of our subconscious where secrets hide. Mixing movement, light beams, VHS tape recordings, and the colors in your crayon box, STAR KEEPER sees the unseeable and illuminates the power of survival. The bravery it takes to venture into the darkness and look your past dead in the eyes. The wonder of embracing all of who you are as powerful and worthy; the messy, dark, and hurt, right along with the glorious.

So grab a flashlight. And the outstretched hand of your child self.

(Don’t worry, I’ve got all of us.)

And let’s go hunting for monsters, treasure, treasure, monsters…

Emily Michaels King is a performing artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota exploring authentic expression and human depth through movement, multimedia, and visual compositions for the stage. Her work has been presented at the Walker Art Center, the Guthrie Theater, CandyBox Dance Festival, Red Eye Theater, and Movement Research, among others.

Emily is known for her fearless personal work, provocative compositions, and collaged evening-length solo performances, including: her award winning show MAGIC GIRL; multimedia online work DIGITAL; IN PERSON, a companion to DIGITAL; and the raucous CHICKEN WING. An in-progress version of her solo, ELECTRIC, was performed at the Arena Dance’s 2022 CandyBox Festival.

Pairing minimalism and subtlety with cacophony and bared irreverence, Emily’s works employ the lush landscape of the inner world and the power of unapologetic vulnerability. They combine movement with text, graphics, sound, and technology to focus on themes of self discovery and reclamation, womanhood, and bold expressions of personal truth.