Meet Ashley Kobza, Our New Education Director!

Ashley Kobza joins the Flatwater Shakespeare Company staff with over a decade of experience as a theatre artist and arts educator. Born and raised in small-town Nebraska, Ashley received her BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. After undergrad, she set out on a ten-year journey that took her to grad school, theaters, communities, and colleges across Ohio, Illinois, San Diego, and Kansas.  She moved back to the land of Goldenrod and Cottonwood in May of 2018 and has been actively working in the Omaha and Lincoln theatre communities ever since. Highlights include Circle Mirror Transformation at BlueBarn, assistant director of The Penguin Project at Lincoln Community Playhouse, and contract work for The Rose Theatre. Ashley also sits on the board for Blixt Locally Grown. 

 

Ashley earned an MFA in Acting and New Work from the Ohio State University where she was afforded the abundantly awesome opportunity to work and train with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their Stand up for Shakespeare initiative. It was through this work that she began to understand Shakespeare's texts for the vibrantly visceral, living-breathing experience that they are. Whatever Shakespeare situation she may find herself in, pedagogical or performative, Ashley begins from a place of curiosity and accessibility all with a "do first, analyze second" approach. When she's not at her desk working and writing away, you will find her among the local trails and trees with her two dogs slapping high fives with all the flora and fauna or at home with her two cats binging late 80s early 90s TV.

 

Welcome to the FSC family, Ashley!