is a writer specializing in historical subjects for feature films, television series, live theater, radio drama and books. She is the winner of numerous grants, commissions and awards. Some examples of her work:

Television

13-hour series, THE WASHINGTONS, on the life of our nation’s first couple, commissioned by Celeste Holm for PBS.

Two-hour video-drama, THE TREASURE: the story of a young nun during the Nazi occupation of France. Commissioned by Transfiguration Monastery.

Two-hour video drama: NELLY, LUCIE AND TWEETS, three generations of Irish/Mohawk women, from sweatshop worker to fashionable Boston medicine woman.

Created and produced WORLD VIEW, half-hour news interview of international press on current world issues hosted by Anton Foek and Lisa Champeau, produced WVIA Public Television.

Created and developed "Glorious Gardens" half hour gardening show at WVIA Public Television.

Stage

• AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE, one man show commissioned by the New York City Historic House Trust. Ran 2½ years at The Waverly Inn, NYC before touring.

• JOHNNY! a full-length musical libretto on the 19th century coal, steel, railroad monopoly and Johnny Mitchell, the charismatic leader of the United Mine Workers of America. Winner of Commission contest and produced by the Scranton Cultural Center for the National Celebration of American Labor 2000.

• COUNTRY LIFE: monologue on farm life circa 1922, commissioned by Celeste Holm for performance at the Boston Historical Society.

SUPPER WITH THE POPE, one act play on Cesare Borgia and Christian versus Islamic imperialism. Produced at the Expanded Arts Theater, now offered with a companion one-act BURTON IN AFRICA on issues of humanism and exploitation in 19th century Africa.

• THE MEDICINE MAN: an alienated Mohawk medicine man searches for his daughter, finds her in an orphanage and teaches her his ancient healing skills.

• MARTHA SPEAKS UP: half-hour monologue on Martha Washington for Celeste Holm. Performed at The Boston Historical Society.

Film

• THE FAIRY GARDEN fantasy feature film script. There is a world of fairies under the sundial of the North Canonry Garden of Salisbury Cathedral. Two lonely children come to share that world, its magical powers and spiritual perceptions.

• MONTFORT: epic feature film script on the 13th century:

• He was the founder of modern democracy.
  He was deeply religious and the greatest warrior of his time.
  He married a nun who was the King of England’s sister.
  He was the Queen’s lover and fathered the heir to the throne.
  The King of England wanted him dead at any cost.

  He conquered England and founded Parliament.

Radio

• THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WESTERN WORLD: 7-part epic series starring Kathleen Widdoes. True story of a woman, born in a brothel in 1776, who went on to corner the New York City real estate market. She married Aaron Burr, nearly rescued Napoleon after Waterloo, and in her 90’s raised her own army to make herself Empress of Mexico. Broadcast nationally.

• BEING MURIETTA: 4-part series on a genuine Zorro in Gold Rush California. Broadcast WJFF Public Radio.

• VRIESLAND: 4-part series on the Dutch massacre of Lenape Indians in 1644, from the memoirs of a Dutch settler married to a Lenape woman. Produced at WVIA Public Radio. Broadcast nationally, and was an all-day special feature with discussion by scholars and representatives of the Lenape Tribe at WBAI Public Radio, New York.

• THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL: THE LITTLE FIR TREE: NPR Christmas show 1995 and 1996, adapted from two short stories by Peter Wynne.

• MONEY RADIO: half-hour comedy on Public Radio fund raising. Produced and broadcast at WJFF Public Radio.

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Books MONTFORT: a four-part novelized biography, now available at Amazon.com I. The Courtier and the Exile II. The Viceroy III. The Revolutionary IV. The Angel with the Sword.

Described by Dr. Madeleine Cosman, founder of the Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, NY City University, as the finest work she knew on the 13th century:

High in the gables hawks perched sullenly, whitening the black rafters with their droppings. The walls, painted to look like brickwork, were peeling. Rows of square pillars were peeling as well. Brown-limned portraits of ladies, dressed in a style two generations out of date, peered from the pillars’ flaking sides like frightened ghosts trapped in a dissolute gaming-den. The Court at Westminster, in December of the year 1229, was dissolute. Drunken courtiers, mud-spattered from the morning’s hunt, lounged at trestle tables set among the pillars. They played at cards or dice, or picked at the cold remnants of last night’s feast. Gold chains, buckles and fibulas, gifts from their youthful patron, brightened their dusty riding-robes. The jests that passed from table to table were coarse and loud, and the laughter was hearty if also cruel, for these were the chosen, the King’s own friends who could afford to deride anyone. A youth stood by the door. He was tall, slender, at that time in life when the body in a sudden rush to adult height becomes long lines and angles. His robe was plain white for he was a knight not yet in liege to anyone. His hair was dark, his skin was fair and his face had an extraordinary beauty. But his large, dark eyes frowned with acute nearsightedness. Politely, he stood waiting to be announced. But no one came. Politely too, he concealed his astonishment at England's Royal Court. a writer of historical subjects for feature films, television series, live theater, radio drama and books.

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Copyright © 2010 by Katherine Ashe