Ash (they/she)

Biography

Ash (they/she pronouns, fka Amir Shirazi) grew up in Portland, OR, where they currently reside. They have a background in both theatre and music, and they are an active composer, choral arranger, music director for choir and theatre, and songwriter. They are queer, non-binary, Persian, hard of hearing, and a quintessential virgo.

They currently serve as Artistic Director to Transpose PDX, which is a non-profit choral organization serving the transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming community of Portland and is comprised of the Transpose Community Choir and a cappella group Acchord. They are also the Committee Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, of which they are also a singing member. Lastly, they serve on the New Harmony Task Force for GALA Choruses.

Their theatrical credits include productions with SpeakEasy Stage (English), Portland Center Stage (tick, tick… BOOM!, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Macbeth), Oregon Children’s Theatre (Intergenerational Queer Audio Project), Corrib Theatre (Lifeboat), Jewish Theatre Collaborative (Echoes), Milagro Theatre (for which they won a Drammy Award in 2015 for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music for Milagro’s production of ¡O Romeo!), Post5 Theatre Company (Love’s Labour’s Lost), and Portland Actors Ensemble (for which they won the Outdoor Shakespeare Festival Award in 2012 for Best Sound Design for PAE’s production of Twelfth Night).

Ash is currently working on an original musical Crumbs. A fantastical prequel to the Hansel and Gretel fairytale, Crumbs follows a family broken by loss and mourning. The musical examines what it means to be a family, how communities experience grief and resilience, and whether love alone is strong enough to defeat the darker forces at play. This reimagining tackles cis-heteronormative models of family, examines how queer and trans identities are affected by external fear, and explores racial/cultural privileges around status, image, and authenticity.