Dottie Ashley
- Contact Dottie
- Call: 843-937-5704
Dottie Ashley reviews theater and dance and writes about local arts organizations. She is the winner of the 2003 Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award given to the outstanding arts writer in the state, and twice won a National Partners of the Americas Journalist Fellowship to Cali and Bogota, Columbia. She worked for The State newspaper in Columbia for 15 years, where she won the 1985 American Dance Festival Critics Award. Ashley has covered the Spoleto Festival USA since its founding in 1977. She has a master's degree from the University of South Carolina.
Recent Stories
'Avenue Q' irreverent look at society
'The most fabulous thing about 'Avenue Q' is that it dares to say out loud what other people often are thinking, but does it in such a hilarious way that no one is offended," says Kerri Brackin, speaking from a hotel room in Connecticut, where the show's touring company was performing that evening.
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'Penzance' to be performed near harbor
Bill Schlitt envisions the days when pirates such as Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet roamed Charleston Harbor. But he was thinking of the lighthearted side of walking the plank when he decided to produce the famous comic operetta "The Pirates of Penzance."
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'Angels' dancers excel
In "Diversion of Angels," choreographed by Martha Graham, the term "head over heals in love" comes to life as male dancers perform impeccable cartwheels and women cavort happily in red, white and yellow dresses, luring their lovers.
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Martha Graham Co. opens CCA season
Internationally celebrated dancer Martha Graham once was described by a leading dance critic as "one of the seven wonders of the artistic universe."
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'Frost/Nixon' to open at Footlight Players
When local actor Robbie Thomas was 12, he heard on television that former President Richard Nixon had died and was to be buried with full honors.
'I knew nothing about Watergate, as I wasn't even born yet, but I repeated to my mother what I had just heard,' recalls Thomas. 'My mother became extremely upset and asked in an incredulous tone, ‘with full honors?' '
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Curtain rises on James Island theater
Live theater has always been integral to Charleston's unique ambience, but until recent years, playhouses largely have been confined to the peninsula.
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Coward comedy remains timeless
'You could say the plot is rather dark, but it's the characters drawn by British playwright Noel Coward that make this a comedy," says Jan Gilbert, who portrays a ghost in Coward's 70-year-old play, "Blithe Spirit," at Charleston Stage.
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'Annoyance' appropriately named
If torture is your thing, then by all means catch LateNight @ the Footlight's ultra-lame production of Sam Bobrick's "Annoyance," which opened Thursday.
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Family drama retains sense of humor
British playwright Shelagh Stephenson's dark comedy "The Memory of Water" is set in a pivotal time in life that many can relate to, as three women return to their childhood home for their mother's funeral and sort through decades of happy moments mingled with smoldering resentments.
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CSO to 'Celebrate Charleston'
Wilson hopes to earn post as permanent executive director with orchestra
Having survived a financially tumultuous year, which included the resignations of Executive Director Jan Newcomb and Resident Conductor Scott Terrell, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra is set to open its 2009-10 season with the theme "Celebrate Charleston."
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