Elena Araoz

I direct theater, opera, multi-media performance and large-scale immersive events, working internationally, Off-Broadway, and across the country. Upcoming productions include 3D-spatial audio immersive opera No One Is Forgotten (Dallas Opera), artistic consulting Senator Bill Bradley’s film Rolling Along, bilingual play Espejos: Clean (Studio Theatre), the musical Sugar Skull (now on its fourth national tour). The New York Times has praised my productions as “form-busting,” “gorgeous,” “refreshingly natural,” and The Boston Globe as “riveting,” “dreamy,” “vivid.” I serve as Producing Artistic Director of Lewis Center for the Arts theater and music theater season, where I founded Innovations in Socially Distant Performance.

What are your thoughts on Keller's Design for Innovation program?

Keller's Design for Innovation program equally values innovation in the arts as it does in the sciences. For my artistic project, I need to work specifically with engineers. I imagine that engineers looking toward the advancement of culture also see that they need artists. Keller's Design for Innovation program can bring us together as collaborators.

What impact do you hope to have through the Design for Innovation program?

The Design for Innovation program’s investment in my project brings virtual theater closer to becoming its own art form. Early silent film combined dramatic writing with fledgeling camera technology, and the film industry was born. I hope to blend the age-old and most beloved aspects of theater and live performance with our technologically-enhanced culture, creating an accessible form of entertainment and cultural conversation that communities can invest in.

What advice would you have for faculty and researchers seeking to have direct, real-world impact beyond the academy?

Artists, like me, live our lives seeing cultural holes that need filling and social problems that need fixing. Every piece of art is an invention put forward with great hope and expectation, but most likely, there is an academic somewhere already exploring the same driving question. What better collaborator could there be? I know that if I want to have real-world impact beyond the academy, I should start by looking inward toward the expertise, resources and faculty mentorship opportunities already on Princeton University’s campus.