Ed Sala with his 12-year-old daughter Emma Sala at Mill Mountain Theatre, where they both have parts in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."

Playing on Stage

• What: See Emma Sala and her dad, Ed Sala, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”
• Where: Trinkle Main Stage, Mill Mountain Theatre
• When: Through Dec. 22
• Tickets: Adults, $30/$25; ages 13-18, $18; ages 1-12, $15
• Call: 342-5740; www.millmountain.org

To see Emma’s guided tour of the Empire State Building and other video podcasts, visit www.meetmeatthecorner.org.

Deep down in her heart of hearts, what little girl wouldn't love to be Emma Sala?

Living a block from Times Square, traveling the country with her mom and her actor dad, starring in a New York City videocast at age 12?

Emma, daughter of Roanoke native Renee Sala and New York actor Ed Sala, has seen "The Lion King" and "Mary Poppins" on Broadway. She has seen "Beauty and the Beast" four times.

The Beast, Steve Blanchard, is a family friend.

Emma and her dad are both actors in the current Mill Mountain Theatre production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."

Emma has the bigger part.

"I have five lines," says Ed Sala, a veteran of some 30 Mill Mountain plays, dating to its days on the mountaintop, before the coming of Center in the Square.

"She has at least 50."

"Thirty at most," Emma demurs.

"She's a big deal," says her dad. "She's on stage most of the time."

They were in one other play here together -- "It's a Wonderful Life."

"I played her grandfather," says Ed Sala, sounding chagrined.

'Meet me at the Corner'

You wouldn't know it by chatting with Renee Sala, whose accent still says "Virginia." Or from meeting her daughter, Emma, who has a perpetual sunny smile, rides a scooter and loves to make new friends. But the Salas live an unusual life.

Not only do they live a few minutes' walk from Broadway, but they also routinely travel around the country, following Ed Sala's acting jobs -- and sometimes, Emma's.

Emma is home schooled. The decision was a pragmatic one, her parents say. So long as they educate their daughter themselves, the family can stay together while Ed Sala plies his offbeat trade.

"That's why we started," said Renee Sala, who majored in history and communications at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina and handles most of the teaching duties. "It really just suits us. A lot of times, it's the whole family learning together."

It seems to be working for Emma -- she scores in the 97th percentile on standardized tests, her father said.

It also leaves her schedule flexible enough for acting. At Mill Mountain, Emma has appeared in "Beauty and the Beast" and "The North Star" in addition to "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Best Christmas Pageant" with her father. The Salas stay with Renee's parents, Lester and Joyce Reed, while they're in town.

Emma also has a job in New York, as co-host of "Meet Me at the Corner" -- a Web site geared for home schooled children that describes itself as "virtual field trips for kids."

"It is exciting to watch her growth and confidence on camera," founder Donna Guthrie said. "I have this feeling about her that these video podcasts may be the start of something much bigger for Emma. I certainly hope so."

The Salas have also traveled to Vermont, and to Gainesville, Fla., where Ed Sala appeared in "Elvis People," which was staged at Mill Mountain's Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works a few years back.

"Elvis People" eventually got as far as off-Broadway in New York City, where it quickly closed.

"If you want a show that's going to flop in New York," Sala quipped, "put me in it."

In fact, Sala has also been in "Johnny Guitar," named the best off-Broadway musical of 2004, and on Broadway in "The Scarlet Pimpernel."

In between acting gigs, he records audio books, usually Westerns, for extra cash.

From Manhattan to the mountains

Ed Sala met his wife-to-be while appearing in a Mill Mountain Theatre production 14 years ago.

Renee Sala, a 1984 graduate of William Fleming High School (she was Renee Reed then) had worked for the theater previously, and was back to visit friends.

Sala was still a bachelor at 51. "I got tired of coming home to nothing," he explains.

When they married, Renee Sala says, her husband promised her mother they would be in New York for only two years. "It's been 14."

The Salas plan to start spending a lot more time in Roanoke come spring.

Renee Sala wants to be closer to family. Ed Sala wants to fish for small-mouthed bass in the James and New rivers. They hope to keep their New York apartment as well.

Emma, who has spent many weeks in Roanoke, doesn't think the transition will be too hard. After all, she was born in Roanoke, and her middle name is "Shenandoah." She likes nature, too -- to a point.

"I just don't like the bugs."

She insists there are similarities between the mountains and Manhattan.

"The buildings are almost like the mountains here," Emma said.

"One time, we went to Brooklyn, and I was like, 'This is just air.' "

The Salas say they might even buy a house -- something Ed Sala has never done before.

Close enough

Ed Sala is the first to admit that being a journeyman actor's kid isn't everything.

There are plenty of things that Emma, living on her father's actor's paycheck, has never had.

They owe their coveted Manhattan address to a rent-stabilized apartment, which goes for less than $600 a month.

Other tenants in the same building pay four times as much, Ed Sala says.

"There are moments I feel a little guilty I can't give her what other parents are giving their kids," Sala says.

Fortunately, he adds, Emma has never missed the toys she didn't get.

Once, Emma told her dad:

"My life isn't perfect. But it comes about as close as it can get."