Theatre Maker. Director. Teacher. Practitioner.

Ashley Jones is a UK born director and deviser currently based out of Rochester, NY. After training at ALRA, Rose Bruford College, Academia Teatro Dimitri and RADA he studied under master clowns Angela De Castro and Philippe Gaulier. He currently serves as Creative Director of PUSH Physical Theatre and the Co-Artistic Director of RocHaha, where he develops original devised and physical theatre works.

Ashley Jones is a theatre-maker, producer, and arts leader based in Rochester. In 2024, he founded the RocHaha Clown Festival, the first festival of its kind in Western NY that celebrates contemporary clown and physical theatre through performances, workshops, and community events. He also co-founded The Auguste Roost, a creative studio dedicated to training, rehearsal, and artist residencies.

Ashley’s work has been presented internationally and across the U.S., earning multiple awards and festival honors. His projects, including the off-broadway hit Generic Male, GRIP, HYDE, and INDOORS, all explore themes of identity, vulnerability, and the human body as storyteller. Passionate about arts education and access, he regularly leads workshops and residencies for emerging artists and youth from underserved communities, advancing a vision of theatre that is innovative, inclusive, and rooted in physical expression.

Ashley has directed and led multiple projects within theatre and circus and taught at colleges across the US and UK. Ashley has worked and trained with UK based theatre companies; Gecko Physical Theatre, David Glass Ensemble, Nonsuch Theatre and Frantic Assembly. Alongside Professor Aardvark Ashley continues to generate relationships around the world.

His recent directorial credits include the multi-award winning “Generic Male: Just What We Need Another Show About Men” that had an off-Broadway run in 2022 and continues to tour around the US co-produced by PUSH Physical Theatre. He was in residence at University of Houston in 2025 where he led the MfA Acting cohort through their devising of “The Circadian Project” (2025).

Other Credits include; HOME[sic] (2024), INDOORS (2024), PUSH’s HYDE (2023), H20 (2023), The Trunk Show (2021), TILT (2019), EnCircle (2019), Into the Clouds (2018), The Party’s Over (2017).

“His finished works… are all testament to his true, singular, outstanding ability as clown, actor and director”

-Angela De Castro, Why Not Institute. 2018