Consider This Theatre Company will bring Jane Austen’s classic matchmaking comedy into the modern world with Emma: A Pop Musical, the company’s second musical of the 2026 season, Oct. 23 through Nov. 1 at Mills-Pate Arts Center (7120 Old Nashville Hwy.).
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and the opening Saturday, with Sunday and Halloween Saturday performances at 2 p.m.
Written by Eric Price and adapted from Austen’s 1815 novel Emma: A Pop Musical moves the story from Regency-era England to the halls of a contemporary high school. Emma Woodhouse is now a confident high school senior who is convinced she has a talent for understanding the romantic lives of everyone around her. She decides to put that talent to work by finding the perfect boyfriend for Harriet, a shy sophomore, while attempting to arrange other relationships among her classmates.
As in Austen’s original story, however, Emma’s confidence in her ability to understand everyone else does not necessarily extend to understanding herself. Her matchmaking efforts lead to complications and ultimately force her to reconsider what she thinks she knows about friendship, love and happiness.
The musical adds a further modern twist through its score, which incorporates familiar pop songs associated with iconic female singers and groups. The licensed production includes songs ranging from The Supremes and Cyndi Lauper to Whitney Houston, Sara Bareilles, Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne, Natasha Bedingfield and Katy Perry. Among the songs included in the show are “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “How Will I Know,” “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “Roar.”
According to Concord Theatricals, the musical was first produced in 2015 and has become a popular choice for productions featuring younger performers.
For Consider This Theatre Company, the production also represents a continuation of its emphasis on providing family-friendly theater in Rutherford County. The company presents theatrical productions, summer camps, musical theater dance classes and fundraising performances involving many local performers and volunteers. Recent productions have included Anne of Green Gables, Seussical Jr., The Pirates of Penzance and the dinner-theater comedy Barbecuing Hamlet.
The company has made Mills-Pate Arts Center its home for much of its work. The venue at 7120 Old Nashville Hwy. was founded in 2020 and has since become a local hub of community theater, also hosting productions from other area theater companies.
Emma: A Pop Musical also marks the directorial debut of Rebecca Sweeten, whose musical-theater jazz and tap classes at Mills-Pate helped raise funds toward the production.
For more information and tickets, visit mpactn.com.
