Ashley Lee is a staff reporter at the Los Angeles Times, where she writes about theater, movies, television and the bustling intersection of the stage and the screen. She also co-writes the paper’s twice-weekly Essential Arts newsletter. An alum of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute and Poynter’s Power of Diverse Voices, she previously served as the national director of the Institute for Theater Journalism and Advocacy, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s arts journalism program. Prior to The Times, she was a New York-based editor at the Hollywood Reporter and has written for the Washington Post, Backstage and American Theatre, among others.
Latest From This Author
Actors, musicians and comedians are ‘giving back the best way we know how,’ while institutions are offering donations, grants and safe places to recharge.
It’s too early to fully assess the extent of the devastation from the historic L.A. firestorms, but it is already unimaginable.
‘When people are in pain and trauma the way our community is right now, I don’t think the show has to go on,’ says the Pasadena Playhouse’s Danny Feldman.
Fires threaten cultural institutions, destroy historic architecture: L.A. arts and culture this week
The devastation so far includes Will Rogers’ ranch house, Topanga Ranch Motel and numerous homes, businesses and community structures.
A tribute to the late satirist Pippa Garner, and more of the week’s notable arts and culture news.
In a special edition of Essential Arts, the arts and culture experts at The Times reveal what they’re most anticipating in 2025.
We asked Times staffers for the films they were most stoked for, sight unseen. Brace for a “Freakier Friday,” a new “Superman,” the return of Malick and more.
Ana Segovia’s fluorescent, film-inspired paintings, plus the week’s happenings, including Grand Park’s New Year’s Eve celebration and the biggest arts and culture news.
A letter to Essential Arts readers, L.A. County’s annual holiday celebration, a Velázquez masterpiece in Pasadena and decommissioned Confederate statues coming to MOCA in 2025.
Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson breaks down how ‘Mufasa,’ now in theaters, connects back to original ‘Lion King’ saga.