Emma Feather Shaw is an Auckland-born, Dunedin-raised, world-traveled, and now Christchurch-based theatre practitioner. Shaw holds a BA in Theatre Studies from the University of Otago, and is currently training in contemporary dance full time with Hagley Dance Company. Taking to the stage as her alter ego Feather Unsure, she regularly performs as an MC, stand up comedian, poet, dancer, actor, and cabaret performer. Her lust for travel and thirst for adventure has sent her on backpacking journeys around the world, from Morocco to Iceland. Along the way she has performed in theatre and cabaret shows in Japan, Australia, Spain, England, and the United States.
She was a finalist in the 2017 South Island RAW Comedy Competition, and is the director of theatre and cabaret company Feral Grace Productions, a role which has seen her write and direct a number of her own works. Her works to date include The Road Has No Name (shortlisted for the 2012 Playmarket B4 25 Young Playwrights Award), Two Zones Please (which was performed onboard a moving bus, and was nominated for Most Innovative and Emerging Artist at the 2016 Dunedin Theatre Awards), Are Your Game? (a confronting and honest dance and theatre work about sexual assault), and her solo show F*cking Clowns and Other Hobbies (which received standing ovations at both its Auckland and Dunedin showings.) Since March 2015 Shaw has curated and MCed the monthly Lads on Tour Cabaret series, which has gained a cult following and a strong reputation for the informal, supportive, and quirky environment it offers emerging artists and audience members alike.
When she isn't in the dance studio or rehearsal room plotting her next project, Shaw can be found exploring the logistical side of live performance. She can often be spotted surrounded by spreadsheets and invoices, or else backstage or up a ladder in her steel caps.