Biography

Kaley Karis Smith is a stage director, creative collaborator, and artist from Nebraska. During the 2023-24 season, she has been in residence at HGO as the assistant director for Madame Butterfly and Don Giovanni; and as revival director for Madame Butterfly at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Elsewhere this season, she serves as a visiting professor at Oberlin Conservatory and stage director for Notre Dame Opera. Last year, she was the revival director for HGO’s La traviata at Miller Outdoor Theatre, directed Rusalka at Opera Idaho and La traviata at Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore, and was the assistant director for La traviata, Werther, and Milagro del Recuerdo  at HGO. Smith completed a two-year contract with Pittsburgh Opera as the Resident Artist Stage Director in May of 2022, where she directed Soldier Songs and The Rose Elf, and was the assistant stage director for the world premiere of Cerrone and Fleischmann’s In a Grove, directed by Mary Birnbaum. Other directing credits include: Katabasis  (a filmed opera project with Prismatic Ensemble), The Telephone  (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), The Marriage of Figaro  (Augusta University), The Crucible and The Turn of the Screw  (Chicago Summer Opera), and Goldie B. and The Three Singing Bears and Opera for the Young: The Elixir of Love  (Virginia Opera).