Staging Social Justice: Ash Marinaccio on The Thought Project

Ash Marinaccio is a multidisciplinary and award-winning documentarian working in theater, film, and photography. She is dedicated to storytelling that highlights the socio-political issues defining our times and is particularly invested in telling queer and working-class stories. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Theatre and Performance program at The Graduate Center, CUNY where she has tapped her international experience in using theater as a tool for activism and social justice. She travels and works extensively in areas of war and conflict and, for her Ph.D., is investigating theater practices in war zones. In this podcast, Marinaccio talks about her experiences growing up as the daughter of a single mother, becoming the first in her family to go to college, and finding faculty mentors who changed the course of her life. She shares her journey in theater, including starting and directing Girl Be Heard, a nonprofit theater organization devoted to young women in theater and social justice, which was recognized as an NGO by the United Nations. Marinaccio explains her work on a global stage that is partially stymied during the pandemic.