As an ABOG Fellow Ashley Sparks will create Good Old Boys, a portable participatory performance for white southern male audiences in rural Virginia. Incorporating remote control cars, music, and characters inspired by the Dukes of Hazzard, the show draws upon Sparks’ experience as a Southerner, and explores themes of class, race, privilege, and power through intimate reframing of pop culture.

Artist Bio

Ashley Sparks is a Southern theater maker, engagement strategist, and producer. She has worked across the US with companies such as Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, ArtSpot Productions in New Orleans, PearlDamour, the Network of Ensemble Theaters, Alternate ROOTS, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. As a director, Sparks creates site-specific work and participatory events, and as an engagement strategist and producer, she has worked with dozens of individual artists, filmmakers, and organizations to deepen the connection art can have on specific audiences and across sectors. She organized the Network of Ensemble Theaters MicroFest USA, a festival/think-tank series that highlighted the impact art has in revitalizing communities. MicroFests were convened in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Honolulu, New Orleans, Detroit, Knoxville and Harlan County, Kentucky. Sparks is an awardee of the Princess Grace Award and has an MFA in Directing and Public Dialogue from Virginia Tech University.

Visit Ashley Sparks’ website

Young people in a migrant housing community draw the future of Milton-Freewater, a farming community in eastern Oregon. From MILTON, a co-production with Ashley Sparks and Pearl Damour. Courtesy the artist.
Interactive public installation designed for Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles for their PROUD Series. Courtesy the artist.
Interactive public installation designed for Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles for their PROUD Series. Courtesy the artist.
Interactive public installation designed for Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles for their PROUD Series. Courtesy the artist.
Production of Turning of the Bones by New Orleans writer Jan Villarubia. The performance used quirky musical numbers to explore the complexities of race in her family. Featuring Lisa Shattuck and Donald Lewis. Courtesy the artist.
Ashley Sparks playing “Bear” a trans truck driver who channels the spirit of Julie from August Strindberg’s Miss Julie. Kiss Kiss Julie was an interactive exploration of gender and sensuality by ArtSpot Productions. Photo: Melisa Cardona
Interactive dinner and guided conversation that include silence and singing. Courtesy the artist.