Ashley believes in creating aesthetically exciting, and emotionally engaging work for very young children that is surprising, sensorial, and unique. She believes in partnering directly with young people to create work for them.
Ashley is the Founding Artistic Director of Kerfuffle, an award winning midwestern theatre and dance company that creates performances for very young audiences. With Kerfuffle, she has directed and developed Toddler Hiking Club: An Imaginative Nature Walk, Toad Hall,The Conductors, Goose and Gert, The Caterpillar's Footprint and Nested. Under her leadership, Kerfuffle has partnered with many organizations to bring high quality theatre experiences to children around the country, including the Chicago Park District, Lied Center for Performing Arts (Lincoln, NE), The Connecting Routes Project (Chicago, IL), IDEA Museum (Mesa, AZ), OutrSpaces (Omaha, NE), The Rose Theater (Omaha, NE), Omaha Parks District, Tempe Public Library (Tempe, AZ), and Educare of Lincoln and Omaha (NE). Kerfuffle is the 2020 recipient of the American Alliance of Theatre and Education's Zeta Phi Eta-Winifred Ward Outstanding New Children's Theatre Company Award. Additionally, Ashley wrote and directed Wynken, Blynken and Nod, and a school tour of The Music Makers with The Rose Theater. She directed a remount of Stephanie Jacobson's adaptation of Thumbelina, and her original play,You and Me and the Land of the Peas is toured to Nebraska/Iowa preschool and daycare centers from 2019-2020. In 2019, Ashley traveled to Bologna Italy as the TYA/USA Ann Shaw Fellow. She was selected as one of five artists under 35 to develop a new work while she was there. Ashley partnered with children in an Italian creche to develop Fox Is Here to Play, a one-person play. Ashley's script of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod is available for licensing through TYA Show Rights. |
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