CHRISTOPHER MCELROEN is a Brooklyn-based media artist dedicated to creating interdisciplinary artistic content that reflects on America—its ideals, realities, and the forces that unite and divide its people. He is the Founding Artistic Director of the american vicarious and previously co-founded The Classical Theatre of Harlem.
Featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Christopher’s current project, Fight for America!, is an interactive performance installation that challenges participants to confront the gamification of American politics. Set against the backdrop of January 6, 2021, the large-scale tabletop wargame invites players to explore how political extremism and a win-at-all-costs mentality threaten the very foundations of democracy. Created with artists Neal Wilkinson and Alessio Cavatore (Warhammer 40K, Bolt Action), Fight for America! premieres in June 2025.
Listed as "Highbrow and Brilliant" in New York Magazine's Approval Matrix, Christopher recently adapted and directed Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, a restaging of the 1965 Cambridge Union debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. This historic debate continues to illuminate the deep-seated roots and enduring legacy of racial conflict in America. Since its NYC premiere in October 2020, the production has toured internationally, including a successful six-week run in London's West End in April 2023. It returned to the UK in October 2023 for performances at the Bristol Old Vic and the Cambridge Union itself. The tour continues through 2025, marking the debate's 60th anniversary.
Christopher produced Far From the Nile, a documentary feature that won Best Non-Fiction Feature at the 2022 Cairo International Film Festival. The film follows 12 African musicians from seven Nile River countries—Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda—who unite in an international coalition to spotlight the region's water conflicts. Departing from their homes, they embark on a 100-day tour across America's heartland.
In response to the events of January 6th, Christopher created Negative Liberty / Positive Liberty, a performance installation inviting a single viewer to lend their voice to an artistic distillation of Isaiah Berlin's 1958 lecture, Two Concepts of Liberty. Berlin argues that the rhetorical use of liberty to control individuals in its name inevitably leads to politically motivated violence.
Also recognized as "Highbrow and Brilliant" in New York Magazine's Approval Matrix, Christopher created Static Apnea (2020), a performance installation exploring breath and the collective need to hold it in 2020. One audience member, surrounded by a tunnel of blue light, descends toward a single performer behind a glass wall. The performance lasts 9 minutes and 2 seconds—the female record for static apnea.
Christopher developed and directed Jaymes Jorsling's (A)loft Modulation, a play with jazz influences inspired by The Jazz Loft Project by Sam Stephenson. The production was nominated for four AUDELCO Awards.
In collaboration with four-time Grammy Award nominee Gerald Clayton, Christopher developed and directed Piedmont Blues: A Search for Salvation, a two-year journey through the Piedmont region of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. This 75-minute musical suite, integrating film, dance, and music, premiered at Duke Performances in December 2016 and continues to tour, most recently at Harlem Stage in June 2022.
Christopher received a 2013 Helen Hayes Award for directing the world-premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. To foster public engagement, he built national partnerships and led community discussions on race, identity, and the American experience. The production premiered at the Court Theatre in Chicago in January 2012, earning seven Jeff Awards, and later ran at The Huntington Theatre in Boston and The Studio Theatre in DC.
Alongside visual artist Paul Chan and Creative Time, Christopher co-produced and directed Waiting for Godot in New Orleans, a year-long post-Katrina community development initiative. The project staged Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in the Lower Ninth Ward and Gentilly neighborhoods and was recognized by The New York Times as one of the top ten national art events of 2007. The archives are now part of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
He also directed the world premiere of 51st (dream) State, the final work of poet, musician, and activist Sekou Sundiata. This multimedia exploration of the American empire premiered at The Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival before touring internationally.
As a co-founder of The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH), Christopher produced 41 productions from 1999 to 2009, earning 18 AUDELCO Awards, 6 OBIE Awards, 2 Lucille Lortel Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and recognition by the Drama League as "One of 8 Theatres in America to Watch."
His CTH directing credits include:
The Cherry Orchard with Wendell Pierce and Earle Hyman
Three Sisters with Reg E. Cathy, Earle Hyman, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Carmen de Lavallade
An original adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son
Marat/Sade with T. Ryder Smith
The Blacks: A Clown Show, which received four 2003 OBIE Awards and was named one of the ten best Off-Broadway productions of 2003 by The New York Times
Christopher’s work has been presented at venues including The Court Theatre, Studio Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, The Duke on 42nd Street, 59E59, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Walker Art Center, MoMA, MASS MoCA, The Invisible Dog, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Biennale-Bonn, and Globe Neuss.
He has guest lectured at Stanford University, Duke University, Purdue University, NYU, Pace University, Dartmouth College, University of Iowa, and the University of North Carolina, among others.
Christopher's work has been recognized with numerous honors, including:
American Theatre Wing Award (Outstanding Artistic Achievement)
Drama Desk Award (Artistic Achievement)
Edwin Booth Award (Outstanding Contribution to NYC Theater)
Lucille Lortel Award (Outstanding Body of Work)
Two OBIE Awards (Sustained Achievement and Excellence in Theatre)
Helen Hayes Award (Outstanding Direction)