Ashley Winkfield
Ashley
Winkfield
Actor. Singer. Puppeteer
ABOUT
ME!
Ash Winkfield (xe/xem/xyr/they) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in theater and the puppetry arts. They began their journey into professional performance while studying at UNC-Chapel Hill where they were introduced to puppetry while workshopping Basil Twist's Rite of Spring in 2013. Over the last decade, they have performed puppetry, theater, and vocal performance all over the world.
Winkfield specializes in new and devised work presented in New York City, and has toured domestically and internationally with Basil Twist (Rite of Spring, Sister’s Follies, Book of Mountains and Seas), Torry Bend (The Paper Hat Game, Dreaming), The Walk with Little Amal (NYC, Toronto, Ireland, US Tour), Mabou Mines (Animal Magnetism), Shake on the Lake (The Othello Project, Songs & Sweet Airs, Mxbeth, Henry V), and Eat, Drink, Tell Your Friends (Lectures). They have had the great pleasure to perform in several projects that have been developed as part of La Mama’s Jumpstart, St. Ann’s Warehouse’s Puppet Lab, The Floating Tower, and the Object Movement Puppetry Festival.
Winkfield is passionate about creating work that speaks to the emotional experience of humanity in the face of injustice. Works like Tory Bend’s Dreaming and “The Walk with Little Amal” have cemented their desire to create work that focuses a creatively critical eye on our society, the inequalities that are pervasive within it, and the history that has made it possible. Most recently, Winkfield utilized this passion in Yaa Samar Dance Theater’s World Premiere of Gathering - a dance theater work which centers around a Palestinian woman’s memories of love and war in her final moments of life. Winkfield will be touring with the company in 2025 & 2026.
Winkfield had their directorial debut in 2022 as Puppetry Director for Christopher Myers’ Fire in the Head, a piece that utilized traditional Indonesian shadow puppets in conversation with contemporary dance and text drawn from the diary of famed dancer Vanislav Nijinsky. They will be directing Alva Rogers’ The Harlem Doll Palace in November 2024. The Harlem Doll Palace is a surreal remembrance of the real life owner of Aunt Len’s Doll Store and Museum through the eyes of her beloved dolls.
In addition to performance work, Winkfield is a theater electrician and lighting designer for dance. They are also an Artistic Associate at Puppet Showplace Theater where they help bring puppetry from around the world to Brookine, MA. In this role, they also curate Puppet Slams, and mentor new works through the Incubator Program and as Residency Coordinator of the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers.
Ash is currently based in Harlem, NYC
"Winkfield is a standout in the way she moves seamlessly from one character to the next.[...] One can hardly look away from her"
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"The cast is superb. Winkfield plays 5 [characters]! The range of convincing voices that she is able to switch between in a moment is impressive."
Joseph Donica / thinkingtheaternyc.com
