The department is thrilled to have Guest Director Freddie Ashley leading the team for our next mainstage Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman. Ashley is the Artistic Director of Actor’s Express in Atlanta, Georgia and brings a trove of directing and educational experience to the project. He is also teaching a special topics minimester class in the department this fall, Contemporary Trends in American Theatre.
Gross Indecency performances are December 1st – 4th @ the Singleton Center. Tix: vcutheatre.showclix.com . Read more about the show here.
Ashley’s full bio:
Freddie Ashley is Artistic Director of Actor’s Express in Atlanta. He has directed around 40 AE productions, including The Crucible, Stupid Fucking Bird, Bad Jews, Murder Ballad, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens, dark play or stories for boys (Atlanta Journal-Constitution Top Ten of 2007) and I Am My Own Wife (AJC Top Ten of 2007) and World Premieres of Serial Black Face, Broadsword, Albatross and Fair Use.
Other directing credits include Cabaret (University of Georgia), The Last Schwartz (Jewish Theatre of the South); A Man of No Importance (Theatre Gael, AJC Best Musical Revival of 2004); Lawrenceburg (World Premiere – Dad’s Garage, AJC Top Ten of 2006); and A Body of Water, A Catered Affair, Glorious, Wait Until Dark, Waving Goodbye, Moon Over Buffalo, As It is In Heaven (Aurora Theatre).
Prior to joining AE, Freddie served as Literary Manager of the Alliance Theatre (recipient of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award), where he served as dramaturg for around 30 productions. He has developed new plays around the country with the Playwrights’ Center, Kennedy Center, New Group, Page 73 and Jewish Theatre of the South, working with writers including Joshua Harmon, Michael Lew, Kenneth Lin, Lindsey Ferrentino, Marco Ramirez and John Patrick Shanley. He has received the Elliot Hayes Award for Dramaturgy from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. He is a four-time Suzi Bass Award winner and has been named Best Director in Atlanta three times by Creative Loafing. In 2019, he received the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Medallion of Excellence.
Ashley is President of the National New Play Network Board of Directors and is Assistant Professor of Acting at Kennesaw State University. He holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi.