Dr. Ashley Williamson is an historian specializing in Canadian performance and theatre history, autoethnographic research, and theatre as pedagogy.  She is an Education Associate for the 2022 season of the Stratford Festival of Canada. Her most recent artistic work was as co-investigator for the interdisciplinary research project, Theatre Science, which uses drama and theatre techniques to explore topics in library science with the goal to remove barriers of performance so that everyone (not just trained actors) can benefit from the experience and pedagogy of live theatre. Ashley has taught arts pedagogy at the College of Education at Niagara University, Canadian theatre history at the Department of English and Drama at the University of Toronto, Mississauga (UTM) as well as public speaking and presentation skills for the Graduate Centre for Academic Skill at the University of Toronto. She has presented her research at conferences and in invited lectures across Canada. She is also an experienced theatre director, designer, and deviser. 

Ashley has driven through nine Canadian provinces in the name of her research and sent hundreds of postcards while she did it.