Elena Araoz is a stage director of theater, opera, multi-media performance, and theatrical large-scale immersive events, working internationally, Off-Broadway, and across the country. Elena is attracted to epic stories, and her productions are known for huge dance-like theatrics and acutely naturalistic acting. The New York Times has praised Araoz’s productions as “form-busting and gorgeous,” “striking,” “primal,” “wild,” “stirring,” and “refreshingly natural,” The Boston Globe as “riveting,” “dreamy,” and “vivid,” and The New Yorker as “refreshing.” Time Out New York mentions, “Elena Araoz is a director with deep wells of imagination; she seems drawn to magical realist work.” Elena also serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Princeton University’s Theater and Music Theater Season. She is a founding member of the Obie-winning The Sol Project. The Dallas Opera just released her 3D Immersive audio-only production of No One Is Forgotten: An Immersive Opera. Elena served as director and immersive designer of the opera composed by Paola Prestini and Sxip Shirey and written by Winter Miller, in a never before created method. Senator Bill Bradley’s documentary film Rolling Along, on which Elena served as Artistic Consultant after having served as Dramaturg for the Senator’s stage production, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival produced by Spike Lee, and will release on HBO/MAX in early February 2024. Upcoming, Elena will direct the commercial run of the new musical Havana Music Hall as an immersive experience inside the new Miami club by the same name. 2024 will mark the sixth annual 30-city national tour of her musical production of Sugar Skull. She will also direct Catherine Filloux’s How to Eat an Orange at La Mama, Elena’s productions have been seem at BAM, New York City Opera, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Oregon Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Prague Shakespeare, New York Theatre Workshop Next Door, Bucharest International, Cherry Lane Theatre, Noble Theater Bridge in Beijing, Studio Theatre in D.C., Barrington Stage, and PENAmerica to name a few. Her multimedia piece The Manic Monologues at McCarter Theatre was nominated for the Drama League Award. www.elenaaraoz.com