01 / Theatre maker
Stage energy, edited like cinema.
Pippin becomes the opening voltage: scenic design, props, costume coordination, backstage operations, and a 60-person team moving toward a sold-out ten-performance run.
NYU Tisch / Fall internship candidate
Interdisciplinary Artist. Producer. Researcher.
I move across theatre, film, research, and public engagement, building work where creative vision meets execution.
About me
Storytelling, cultural exchange, technology, and identity.
I am Stella Zhu, also working under the name Zhu ShengTing, a Performance Studies student at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. My work moves across theatre, film, research, and public engagement, using both academic inquiry and creative production to connect ideas with audiences.
From producing student films and Off-Broadway theatre to conducting research on generative AI and performance, I enjoy working where creative vision meets execution. My projects often bridge Eastern and Western perspectives while emphasizing collaboration, accessibility, and social impact.
02 / Creative collaborator
I like the room before it becomes polished.
Rehearsal, design conversations, unexpected choices, the moment a group starts breathing as one thing. I care about process because it changes what the audience can feel.
03 / Film PA
On set, I know where to stand.
Film sets taught me the discipline of production: location flow, fast communication, operational awareness, and the small actions that protect the larger image.
04 / Producer / Researcher
Soft power, hard logistics, public meaning.
I see production, research, admissions work, and curation as forms of audience design: how experiences are built, communicated, and made accessible.
Selected work
Five doors into the same person.
Portfolio
Visual work, performance, and project documentation
Film / Performance image
Concerto: producing assistant across New York locations
Food creator / Performance studies
Postcard from Cuba: cuisine as political language
Theatre
Pippin: assistant producer, scenic design, props, costume
Film set
Patch, PA work, crew rhythm, field production
Practice map
One body of work, four ways of entering the room.
01
Production
Film sets, theatre rooms, location logistics, crew communication.
TNT / Concerto / A Story of Mine 02Research
Performance studies, AI, gender, spectatorship, cultural authorship.
Advanced Writing / Cuba 03Curation
Exhibitions, food as performance, cross-cultural visual dialogue.
Postcard From Cuba / Amplifying Voices 04Public Engagement
Admissions storytelling, tours, workshops, community-facing programs.
NYU / Frederick Gunn / PraxisArtist statement
I see production not simply as project management, but as a form of authorship.
Whether coordinating a film set, leading campus tours, curating exhibitions, or conducting research, I am interested in how experiences are designed and how stories shape collective understanding. My practice exists at the intersection of performance, scholarship, and public engagement, with a focus on building meaningful cultural connections across disciplines and borders.
Image archive
Evidence, not decoration.
Available for fall internships