Ashley Forman is leading a group of teaching artists to Zagreb, Croatia, to work with students and young adults with physical disabilities.
Ms. Forman, who grew up in Ridgefield, is director of education for Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C.
Ashley Forman
The group will create a play entitled Disable(d) Prejudice and provide professional development training seminars, based on Arena Stage’s “Voices of Now” theater program, presented in partnership with the U.S. Department of State.
Now in its 11th year, Voices of Now equips participants to write and perform autobiographical theater that poses questions about social, cultural and emotional issues, with a focus on creating projects that bring voice to issues of relevancy for the young artists involved.
“Voices of Now is home grown and designed here at Arena Stage through director of education and Voices of Now founder Ashley Forman’s creativity and intelligence,” said Arena Stage artistic director Molly Smith. “That it is now finding homes to inspire artists around the world is a testament to the entire community engagement team at Arena and the United States State Department for their belief in the transformative power of the arts across cultures. This is the finest form of cultural diplomacy that we can do as a theater company.”
The group will work with participants to create a production that will tour to schools and performance venues. Each performance will be followed by a moderated talk-back with the audience centered around the complications and prejudices physically disabled individuals face in Croatia.
Voices of Now first partnered with the U.S. Department of State to go international in October 2012 when four Arena Stage artists went to Kolkata, Patna, New Delhi, and Hyderabad, India, to create original plays inspired by the cities in which they took place. The plays asked vital questions about significant social issues: power and how it relates to gender, pollution, lack of accessible health care, poverty, and how to maintain positive cultural traditions in a new world. The various ensembles included professional theater artists, activists, trafficking victims, orphans, street children, and high school and college students, among others. Conversations are ongoing for a future partnership in India.
Ms. Forman is the daughter of Penelope Forman and the late Maurice Forman, longtime Ridgefield residents. She graduated from Wooster School and acted in Lil and Al Mathews’ theater company. She attended the Stage Door Manor acting camp in the Catskills along with such actors as Matthew Broderick and Josh Charles. At Stage Door Manor she received best acting award in a musical for her portrayal of Lucy in Charlie Brown.
While at Wooster, she wrote and directed a play about the Holocaust that received a commendation from the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
While attending Wooster, she also studied acting in New York City with Jack Romano, who was once the head of the Cuban National Theatre.
In the D.C. area, Voices of Now is working with 10 ensembles throughout the current school year toward final plays for the Voices of Now Festival at the Mead Center for American Theater in May 2014.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to the production, presentation, development, and study of American theater. It is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights.
For more information, visit arenastage.org/education/voices-of-now.