Ashley Petix, a 2009 graduate of Robbinsville High School, recently completed a job as lead set designer for the New York City Fringe Festival production of Father Kennedy.
Ashley Petix designed the set for “Father Kennedy,” which appeared Aug. 14-30 in New York City.
By Meagan Douches
Many people spend their whole lives trying to get into the New York City theater scene, but for Ashley Petix the opportunity arose less than two years after her college graduation.
Petix, a 2009 graduate of Robbinsville High School, recently completed a job as lead set designer for the New York City Fringe Festival production of Father Kennedy.
“We never know what the future holds,” Petix said while reflecting on her recent endeavor. “We go into something wanting a specific outcome, but everything always changes with us and that’s a beautiful thing.”
Not many 23-year-olds speak with the amount of wisdom and self-assurance as Petix, who has used her positive outlook to develop a professional career in art and theatrical set design. She believes that all of the teachers, classes and experiences that she had throughout high school and college have paved the way for her accomplishments. After graduating from Drew University in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in fine art, she spent a year working as a freelancer before being offered a job in the office at Gotham Scenic.
She designed for community theater and worked on other freelance positions before getting involved with the NYC Fringe Festival.
A friend of Petix, Brian Kraker from Pompton Lakes wrote the script for Father Kennedy and asked her to do a few design sketches to be submitted with the Fringe Festival application last November. It wasn’t until May that Kraker found out the play had been accepted into the festival, and he immediately contacted Petix and asked her to design the set for the NYC production.
Petix started her design process with multiple read-throughs of the play. In doing so, she created collages and collections of quotes to better understand the meaning of the piece. When designing, she likes to come up with a metaphor for the play that she can think of when she’s working. For Father Kennedy, Petix came up with the phrase, “Father Kennedy is the search for home,” which was also used in the show’s press release.
Once the idea was in place, Petix began building the set in her garage at home in Robbinsville. With the help of her father, the two were able to finish the set in less than two weeks.
With everyone working on the production based out of different locations around New Jersey and New York, the team most often collaborated on their ideas by phone.
“I didn’t really get to see the set until it was finished,” Kraker said. “I remember I went to her place to see it for the first time, and I was speechless. It was aesthetically beautiful and so realistic. It brought to life what I had in my head better than I had imaged.”
Kraker says that the origami style set was extremely versatile because the crew was able to put it together and take it down in less than 15 minutes, which is all the time they had in the shared Robert Moss Theater.
“Ashley was constantly going above and beyond, and approaching things we hadn’t thought of yet,” Kraker said. “Because the play takes place in three different settings—a church, a store and a bedroom—she decided to make these three dimensional boxes and used different sides for different sets.”
Productions of the show took place in New York City Aug. 14-30, and the play was voted a FringeFAVE, earning it an additional performance. Petix received high remarks on her design from NYC theater critics.
Petix looks forward to the future with optimism, and with good reason. She was recently offered a full-time job as technical assistant for the New York City Metropolitan Opera.
The daughter of Beverly Petix, a sales associate at Smires and Associates Real Estate, and Joe Petix, a senior mechanic at Barton and Cooney, Petix was always drawn to the arts.
“Ashley has always loved art and drawing,” her mother said. “At the age of 2, she began drawing. Though we provided her with lots of mediums to choose from, the number two pencil was her favorite.”
Petix says that she gets her artistic vision from her mother, who has an eye for interior design, while her love of building and working with her hands stems from her father. As she was growing up, she often worked on projects with her father who helped bring her artistic ideas to life. Together, the two built many model sets for Petix’s dolls in their home studio.
Today, the two are still working side-by-side on Petix’s designs, which now consist of much larger and more elaborate theater sets.
Her first production as a set designer was a fall play called “Noises Off” during her junior year at Robbinsville High School. Petix was able to use her fine art skills to set the scene with three large wagons, 20 to 30 feet in length, that were able to rotate.
“It was like being able to do this gigantic full bodied work of art,” Petix said. “It’s amazing seeing what you imagined on paper come into reality. It really helped me understand what I was thinking.”
Petix says that she was encouraged to pursue art by her high school drama teacher Allison Sussman, who also introduced her to Drew University. After touring the campus, Petix loved the school and decided to enroll.
During her time at college, Petix was heavily involved in developing her design craft through the theater department and through independent study. She says that she gained significant knowledge in the fine arts and an understanding in how a theatrical production is developed.
“My professors have had a large part in my development as an artist and as a young professional,” Petix said.
Then, of course, came her work in the professional world, including Fringe Festival. It’s something she said she’s been building towards since her time as a toddler, doodling with a pencil.
“I had a great experience there and got to see how things develop in a professional setting,” Petix said. “All of the experiences I’ve had fed into each other, and built upon each other.”
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