Ashley Adelman
ivpartistic@gmail.com | 908.415.3760 | 811 Walton Avenue, E25 Bronx, NY
Traditional Directing Experience
Permanent Collection by Thomas Gibbons – Director
Concept: Based on the true story of The Barnes Foundation
Hired by: The Sedona Arts Academy, Arizona. February 2022.
Raging Skillet by Jacques Lamarre – Director
Concept: Based on the true story of female, feminist chef - Chef Rossi
Hired by: The Sedona Arts Academy, Arizona. Fall 2021.
These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich – Director
Concept: Based on the true story of the Radium Girls
Hired by: The Bethpage Historical Society. Fall 2018.
East of Heart Mountain by Edward Allan Baker – Co-Director
Concept: Based on the letters of Wyoming resident Cora, who listened to the short wave radio and let parents know if their sons were POWs during WWII.
Hired by: The Wyoming Theater Festival. 2016.
Devised Directing Experience
Not the White Stripes – Director
Text: Using the songs and dramaturgical notes and interviews about Jack and Meg White combined with current issues facing artists
Concept: Interweaving scenes between White Stripes songs, exploring how artistry gives a platform for discussion and vulnerability.
Hired by: Permafrost Collective, NYC. October 2021.
Nellie and The Women of Blackwell – Co-Director & Playwright*
Text: Based on the stories and anecdotes from Ten Days in the Madhouse
Concept: The audience goes into the lunatic asylum with Nelly Bly and down the rabbit hole, not knowing who they will meet and what will happen next. Who decides what is sane and what is not? And if a woman spends her life locked up and her voice never heard, how do we know she truly existed?
Collaboration: Infinite Variety Productions and Wildrence Immersive, NYC. Winter 2020.
Displeyst – Director & Playwright
Text: sourced from the diary of Margaret Welisch and the oral histories of her two daughters Susan Ettinger, Brigitta Wachs and grandson Stephen Ettinger.
Concept: The family owned a haberdashery store in Austria and those were the few items they brought with them in their travels. Using fabric, four pieces of wooden luggage, choreography, gesture and shadow work, we created devised moments that illustrated the action described in the oral and written histories.
Productions/Workshops:
• Sold out workshop production at Under St. Marks, NYC. Spring 2019.
In Their Footsteps – Director & Playwright
Text: As part of a grant through Sarah Lawrence’s MA program, I traveled to interview 5 American women who served in the Vietnam War as either military or civil servants. The script goes in and out of memories, showing who the women were in wartime, and how it shaped who they became later in life.
Concept: I used five wooden boxes to create the landscape of the Vietnam War: helicopters, bunkers, hotels and more. The sound effects were made by the actors live, onstage.
Selected Productions/Workshops:
• Workshopped production at Under St. Marks, NYC. December 2017.
• Premiered and sold out at the Off-Broadway 59E59 Theaters, NYC. July 2018.
• The Edinburgh Theater Festival, Scotland, UK. August 2018.
• The Borderlight Fringe Festival, Cleveland, OH. July 2019.
• Women Overseas Service League, San Antonio, TX. October 2019.
• Radio play, currently featured on NPR. 2020.
• Zoom production for the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 2020.
Beyond the Etchings – Co-Director & Playwright
Text: Vietnam Veteran Bob Staranowicz donated his collection of poems, songs and letters from various Vietnam Veterans and family members
Concept: The play is based on the aforementioned documents, examining the effects of war on those who lost loved ones in battle. Mr. Staranowicz was a consultant on the project.
Selected Productions of Beyond the Etchings:
• Reading at The Vietnam Women’s Memorial for the Veteran’s Day Storytelling, DC. 2016.
• Premiered at The Vietnam Memorial, NYC. 2017.
• The Kraine Theater, NYC. 2017.
*Winner of Broadway World’s Best Immersive/Theatrical Experience Off-Off-Broadway 2021
Additional Experience
Infinite Variety Productions – Founder & Artistic Director. 2011 – present.
A NYS 501(c)3 dedicated to telling untold women’s stories throughout history in non-traditional spaces.
Duties: Researched unknown published plays to produce; Assisted creation of new plays based in women’s history; Produced readings of plays whose subject matter was historically based, specifically from the female perspective; Led workshops for younger audiences in beginning devised documentary theater; Led a team of designers, marketing and artists in each show; Partnered with various museums, historical societies, schools and corporate events.
World Seido Karate – General Manager. 2010 – present.
An international Japanese Karate school with headquarters in New York City.
Duties: Managing the school and the staff; Register students and orders for all domestic branches ; Daily facilities operations; Operates the non-profit wing which offers free classes for the visually impaired, veterans and students from the Young Adult Institute.
Education
MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University (2009)
BFA from New York University: TISCH (2006)
Awards and Notable Achievements
Publications: Feminisms and Museums: Volume 2; HerStories: The WASP Exhibit at the American Airpower Museum
Recipient of the Naftali Foundation Grant (2016), The Kuehne Foundation Grant (2014), ART/NYCreative Opportunity Grant (2021 and 2022), and the Leon Levy Grant (2021)
Resident Artist at Frigid New York. 2016 – Present.