Ashley Bellet

BAs, Theatre Design and English, The University of the South at Sewanee
MFA, Theatre Design, The University of Memphis
PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, The University of Wisconsin at Madison

Specialization

Costume Design

About

Ashley is a professional costume designer and crafts artisan and has worked for The Santa Fe Opera, American Players Theatre, Playhouse on the Square, Theatre Memphis, and Oklahoma Repertory Theatre, among others. Her designs and craft work span from opera to drama, musical theatre to children’s theatre, and from commercial to traditional craftwork. She has taught and designed at The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma City University, and Millikin University.

As a designer and craftsperson, Ashley’s research leans heavily on practice-based methodologies. Combining material culture studies, aesthetic theory, and object theory, she constructs costumes in order to examine the architecture and energy created in the space between the body and the costume. Her most recent project explores the costumes of Sonia Biacchi as liminal art that both creates and binds space and movement. Experimentation with material agency, space, and the orbit beyond the traditional form is imperative to Ashley’s pedagogical approach for young theatre designers.

Ashley is also dedicated to mentorship and the study of theatre pedagogy. Her work with USITT and KCACTF highlights this, focusing on integrating hands-on experiences with a deeper level of aesthetic research constructed outside of the production process.

She is the Vice President for Commissions for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and presents regularly for The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), USITT, and the Kennedy Center for American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Ashley also serves as the Associate Editor for Education for the journal Theatre Design and Technology (TD&T) and serves as a guest editor for the 2021 Portfolio edition. She previously served as the Commissioner of Education for USITT and as a member of the Board of Directors. Ashley is involved with Critical Costume and the Costume Society of America and has a chapter published in the book Theatre Artisans and Their Craft: The Allied Arts.