Elena Velasco

Elena Velasco (she/ella) is a theatre artist whose work encompasses many aspects of performance, production, activism and education. She firmly believes that through a redefined actor-audience relationship and a “multilingual” approach to performance, theatre can be the catalyst for change and identifying intersections in humanity. During her 25 year career she has devoted her time equally between performance and residency work. She teaches and creates theatre through the lens of community engagement and education throughout the DC metro area, with a focus on Title 1, migrant and disinvested communities.

Ms. Velasco is the Artistic Director and Co-founder of Convergence Theatre, a multidisciplinary performance collective that creates work centered on social justice, grounded in decolonized, consensus-organized processes and structures. Her directing and choreography credits include Convergence Theatre, Synetic Theater, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Keegan Theatre, Imagination Stage, Mead Theatre Lab, Young Playwrights’ Theater, Capital Fringe, Source Theatre, Discovery Theater, Catholic University and the Kennedy Center’s New Visions New Voices Festival. She has choreographed for Avant Bard, Theatre J, Mosaic Theatre Company, and Keegan Theatre. Ms. Velasco has been a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA, and has performed at the Kennedy Center, Theatre Alliance, NextStop Theatre, Discovery Theatre, Imagination Stage, and in several films, commercials, and TV shows. She currently serves as the Co-Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, on the advisory board of Carpe Diem Arts, and has provided consultation for EDIA in theatre programming for organizations such as Theatre Washington, Women’s Theatre Festival of North Carolina, Gandhi Brigade, and Southeastern Theatre Conference. She has been a featured speaker for Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Montgomery College, The Actors’ Center of DC, and Theatre Washington. Ms. Velasco is the theatre production coordinator and a tenure-track professor of theatre arts at Bowie State University.