Ash Marinaccio, Ph.D., creates art at the intersection of documentary and nonfiction theatre, journalism, and photography, with a focus on collaborative, community-devised processes and the expansion of historical archives. She is deeply committed to telling stories that investigate intersecting identities and illuminate the socio-political issues shaping our times. She seeks to use art as a vehicle for systemic change. 

Her theatre work has been presented Off-Broadway at Joe’s Pub, Primary Stages, Rattlestick Theatre, and the Culture Project; at TED conferences, including TEDWomen (introduced by Jane Fonda); at The White House, The Apollo, and the United Nations; and on tour throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Her productions have received critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Huffington Post, Ms. Magazine, Ebony, NY Press, Time Out New York, Backstage, and Show Business, and have been featured by BuzzFeed, NBC, BBC, Al Jazeera, MTV, VH1, and NY1.

Ash is a recipient of the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Lucille Lortel Visionary Award for her artistic direction of Girl Be Heard. She is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been recognized by Culture Trip as one of “50 Women in Theatre You Should Know.” Her fellowships and residencies include The Civilians, Social Practice CUNY, The Drama League, NY Public Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Mellon Foundation.

Ash is the founder of Docbloc (docbloc.org), an organization dedicated to bringing together creatives working across nonfiction forms for live performance investigations into the critical topics that define our times. She is also the founding artistic director of the United Nations–recognized NGO Girl Be Heard (2008–2016) and the theatre collective Co-Op Theatre East (2008–2022).

She has traveled extensively as a resident artist, researcher, and professor, and has taught courses at New York University, Pace University, Hunter College, Queens College, The Actors Studio, Queens Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center (New Jersey), Wolf Pack Theatre (Oregon), Pitchwise Theatre Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Shanghai Theatre Academy (China), ASHTAR Theatre (Palestine), and Garden of Hope (Taiwan).

Ash holds a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance from the CUNY Graduate Center and an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is an alumna of the BAM/Kennedy Center Professional Development Program, the Hemispheric Institute’s EMERGENYC, the American Theatre Wing’s SpringboardNYC, the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Old Vic/New Voices, and The Civilians’ Field Research Team. She is a proud member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the American Anthropological Association (AAA).

Learn more: ashmarinaccio.com/ @ashmarinaccio(Instagram)