Ashley Lucas

Ashley Lucas is Professor of Theatre & Drama at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance, with additional appointments in the Residential College, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design, and English Language and Literature. She previously served as Director of Latina/o Studies and Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), and is a founding member of the Carceral State Project.

Her research and teaching focuses on U.S. Latina/o theatre, prison theatre, and theatre for social change, with additional expertise in acting, playwriting, and comparative ethnic studies. Lucas's work bridges academic scholarship with community engagement, particularly through theatre-based interventions in carceral settings.

Lucas's scholarly output shows a consistent focus on the transformative power of theatre in carceral contexts, with publications spanning ethnographic plays, academic books, journal articles, and collaborative edited volumes. Her work demonstrates interdisciplinary reach across theatre studies, criminology, women's studies, and ethnic studies.

• Ford Foundation Fellow
• UNC Faculty Engaged Scholars Program Fellow
• UNC Institute for Arts and Humanities Fellow
• UM Institute for the Humanities Fellow
• Hedgebrook Writers in Residence Fellow

Lucas has directed significant community-engaged projects including the PCAP Brazil Exchange (2013-2019) and co-founding the Dropped Keys Theatre Company (2023), which created and toured the play With Love, From Inside throughout Michigan in 2024. She has also performed her ethnographic play Doin' Time: Through the Visiting Glass internationally.

Her scholarly lab includes the Prison Creative Arts Project and the Carceral State Project, where she collaborates with incarcerated individuals, formerly incarcerated performers, students, and community partners to create theatre that challenges the dehumanizing aspects of the prison system.