Staff photo / Andy Gray From left, Jennifer Taylor, Amy Jo Giovannone, Tristen Salyard and Amy Burd are shown in a scene from “Emma,” a play by Michael Bloom based on a novel by Jane Austen.

Allison Bye is a firm believer in New Year’s resolutions.

In 2024, Bye decided she wanted to appear in a play, and she made that resolution a reality in the first month of 2025 in Trumbull New Theatre’s production of “Red Herring.” She’ll make a 2025 resolution a reality on Friday when she makes her directing debut with an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” at the Niles community theater.

After her experience doing “Red Herring,” Bye decided to submit scripts for consideration for TNT’s 2025-26 season.

“I kind of thought about it for a while, because I’m so green and I’m so new,” she said. “I don’t know if I have what it takes to direct the show, but maybe I’ll submit something and we’ll see what happens. So I submitted a couple different shows, and ‘Emma’ is the one that they chose. Then they asked me if I wanted to direct it.”

She compared it to playing the lottery — buying a ticket, but not expecting to win.

A period piece with a fairly large cast based on a novel by revered 19th century author Jane Austen seems like a difficult task for a first-time director, but Bye picked Austen because last month was the 250th anniversary of her birth, and its challenges lean into her background.

“Everyone asked me, ‘Why did you do this to yourself?,’ and I don’t really have a concern, other than I guess I like a challenge.” Bye said. “I have a master’s in history, and I have a bachelor’s in history. I was also a history teacher for many years at the high school level, and I have always been drawn to historical settings. And I’m also a hobby sewer, so I love to create garments and do that sort of thing … I knew I had the skill set to take it on.”

Like many of Jane Austen’s works, “Emma” deals with romance, class and gender roles in early 19th century England. In addition to inspiring contemporary adaptations like the 1995 film “Clueless,” there are several stage adaptations of the work, both plays and a musical. Bye chose a script by Michael Bloom, which had its premiere at the Cleveland Play House in 2010 during his tenure as its artistic director.

What appealed to Bye about Bloom’s script is that he stayed true to the original novel and its time period and didn’t try to modernize the language.

The script also puts the audience inside Emma’s head, preserving her internal monologue.

“She’s constantly breaking the fourth wall to explain, ‘Here’s what I’m feeling in this exact instance,” Bye said.

The cast includes Sydney Stalnecker, Jerry Kruse, Marc Bye, Vikkie Mastroberte, Jerome Teasley, Amy Giovannone, Casey Murphy, Scott Jones, Amy Burd, Tristen Salyard, James Desharnais, Jennifer Taylor, Jenny Long and Maddie Zinz.

It’s a mix of TNT veterans and several performers who are doing their first show there.

“I was really surprised, pleasantly, that we had so many new folks come out to audition,” Bye said. “Even for the people (doing their) first show, I was very pleasantly surprised at how everyone is doing. Even our lead, Emma (Stalnecker), this is only her second show ever, and she’s doing so well. She’s crushing all of her monologues, and she’s doing everything with an amazing degree of professionalism … Me being a first time director and also new to theater myself, I like taking those big bets because I know that it paid off for me, and I have the same like, maybe delusion (or) confidence that it will pay off for others as well, and it has.”

Filling the male role was harder than the female ones, so Bye turned to her husband, Marc Bye, to play George Knightley. Initially, he was adamant about not being part of the cast and only working on the crew, but he ultimately agreed to play one of the male leads.

“He’s been very patient and understanding,” she said. “Even though he didn’t really want to play George (Knightley), he was happy to step in and help me out.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Emma”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday through Jan. 24 and 3 p.m. Jan. 18 and 25

WHERE: Trumbull New Theatre, 5883 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $17 for adults and $15 for students and are available online at trumbullnewtheatre.tix.com and by calling the TNT 330-652-1103 between 7 and 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday.