interview with FREDDIE ASHLEY OF
THE ACTOR’S EXPRESS BY: Clifford brooks
Let us begin in the now before we kick back to the beginning. Tell us about the roots of Freddie Ashley. I grew up near Rome, Georgia. My family was closeknit. I come from a long line of hard-working, blue collar people. One of the things instilled in me from an early age was the value of a solid work ethic. My father worked insanely long hours for not a lot of money, but I never once saw him complain. This is something I’ve always carried with me. I always have had a conflicted, even at times ambivalent, relationship to my hometown. On one hand, I appreciated how I saw community and neighborliness modeled. On the other, it was a conservative and constrictive place that offered a great deal of pain along the way for someone like me. Looking back, I was always walking the line between being on the inside and being on the outside, generally feeling the latter most prevalently.
You have said that your youth did not have much exposure to the arts. How did you end up an actor? I was involved in a local boys’ choir from the time I was around nine years old until I was a teenager. That was my sole exposure to the arts. But it was transformative. It was how I discovered classical and sacred music and got to travel a great deal as we toured every summer. Since I didn’t have many friends at school who were boys, it was also a really
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validating environment to form healthy friendships with other boys. In the choir I was popular, unlike my school experience. Because it was such an affirming experience, I think I leaned into it a little bit harder. I was a decent singer but not a great singer, so I didn’t have any inclinations toward studying music in college, but I was being pulled to a creative life all the same. Why I chose theatre is still a mystery; my school had no theatre program to speak of, apart from going to a one-act play competition my sophomore and junior years. That was the extent of my theatre experience before choosing to major in theatre. As an inexperienced freshman with a very thick southern accent and no breath support in my speaking voice, I was told by a professor I had no business pursuing acting. Fortunately, I have an oppositional streak when offered unsolicited advice. I vividly remember thinking in that moment, “Fuck you, I’ll show you who has no business being an actor.” So I worked really hard through college and three years of an MFA program, and I became an actor. And as it turns out, I don’t think I have a ton of natural ability as an actor. Anything I’ve done well has been the work of training and my lived experience. When I discovered directing, I realized it made more sense to me and that I actually have a lot of natural talent in that area. I’ll never leave performing forever but directing is where my strengths lie and where I’m happiest.
You keep no secrets in your creative process as a director Why do you hold open rehearsals? Why do you think so many refuse them? I prefer an open, accessible process. There’s nothing