Tim Ashby

What is your favorite role you’ve ever done?

Exit 27 and I played a guy named Brody. It was the most complicated part that I’ve played and still have. It’s just so much going on with it. I enjoyed trying to parcel out all the details and work on it. And it was my first professional full-length show.

How long have you been acting?

I’ve been acting for about nine years.

What do you enjoy most about acting?

I could go on and on. The storytelling aspect and the teaching people how to be human beings and being a human being. … As far as how in an artificial environment, like a theater, can transport an audience to a different place if done well. … The teaching human beings how to be human just by showing the ‘mirror up to nature,’ like Hamlet said, and seeing our imperfections and that it’s OK to be a human being … What attracted me to theater initially too was I saw parts of myself that I didn’t know other people felt, so there’s almost a communal aspect to it that was really cool too.

Why did you choose to come to the graduate program at OU?

Well, I was researching a bunch of different programs that I auditioned for at URTA (University/Resident Theatre Association)… There were 20 schools and based on my research of really laying down a foundation and teaching a really solid core of training that was a big perk for why I wanted to be here. I emailed Shelley and asked her some questions and she was very, very helpful and engaging, and when I actually met her, I felt very comfortable. And that sold it for me.

What are you hoping to get out of the program after three years?

I am really interested in building a complete toolkit, using techniques that I learned here and that I learned over the years, and just feel confident in my ability to work on a variety of material.

What’s a fun fact about you?

I performed at Carnegie Hall with my high school orchestra and everybody else was really good and I was not. … The trip, even though it was with the orchestra, was when I decided to be an actor because I saw Wicked.

See him as Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing Nov. 11-14, 18-21