SCHOLAR and EDUCATOR
Ash a Ph.D. Candidate in Theatre and Performance at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her dissertation investigates rehearsal techniques used in documentary theatre productions created in areas of war and conflict. This dissertation is part of her larger body of scholarly research concerned with how theatre functions in war and how communities use theatre to regain a sense of identity and overcome traumas associated with violence and displacement. She has worked extensively in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She holds her MA in Performance Studies from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants for her public scholarship, including a 2020-2021 Senior Mellon Public Scholar Fellowship, 2019-2020 NY Public Humanities Fellow, 2019-2020 ARC Student Research Fellow, GC Provost's Early Dissertation Research Fellowship, GC Digital Initiatives Grant, Catalyst Grant, and GC New Media Lab Fellowship.
Ash has taught workshops, classes, and private coaching throughout the five boroughs of New York across the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition, she has held leadership, residency, and teaching artist positions at Girl Be Heard (NY), Queens Theatre (NY), Axelrod Performing Arts Complex (NJ), McCarter Theatre Center (NJ), WolfPack (OR), Garden of Hope (Taiwan), and ASHTAR Theatre (Palestine).
She has been a faculty member at Pace University's School of Performing Arts, The Actors Studio, Hunter College, Queens College, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and an invited guest speaker at Marymount Manhattan and NYU.
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
"I've had the pleasure of having Ashley as a mentor throughout my first year with Girl Be Heard, as well as during my time devising their main stage production, Embodi(ED). I've also been fortunate enough to attend Pace University where I would then have her as a professor for a course, "The Drama of Social Change", that effortlessly mixed drama with sociology in its lessons. Through her guidance in Girl Be Heard it was easy to feel comfortable enough to explore my writing on a more personal and universal level, that I wasn't sure I had the courage to try. In class at Pace, our discussions and readings were always fascinating and eye-opening, it was impossible to leave the room without taking with you a wealth of new information that, in my case, lead to inspiration for creative work. I know that Ashley is a mentor that I can rely on now, and even in the future to come".
- Nina Tandilashvili
"Ashley teaches beyond the syllabus and job description. She invests not only her incredible teaching vision but her heart in her students and the work that is created. I've loved being mentored by Ashley and she has been a real rock, especially during my undergraduate education. I would not be where I am today, both artistically and as a human, had it not been for Ashley Marinaccio".
- Monica Furman
"Ashley Marinaccio is a one of a kind educator whose unique approach to education not only understands but fully embraces the necessity for real-world application to classroom theory. Studying under Ashley Marinaccio left me well equipped and prepared to enter the professional industry".
- Vinny Eden Ortega
"I am so thankful to have had such a caring, devoted, and invested teacher. Her enthusiasm for every subject is contagious. Having worked with Ashley in and out of the classroom on projects, her collaboration and loyalty is why I'll always want Ashley in my corner".
- Laura Wynne
"Ashley Marinaccio changed my life the day she introduced our class to the concept of theatre for social change. Having worked with her as both her student and an actor, I wholeheartedly say Ashley is a constant source of inspiration".
- Larissa Jeanniton
"I have worked with Ashley through Girl Be Heard, as well as taken several courses with her at Pace University. She is the prime example of a role model for me - proving it is possible to be both an activist and an artist".
- Jamie Saunders