In Houston artist Afsaneh Aayani’s whimsical world, even the 12 animals of the Lunar Year cycle (more popularly referred to as the “Chinese zodiac”) can’t escape a little chaos. The plot of The Big Swim, a fanciful one-act opera created in collaboration with Houston Grand Opera and Asia Society Texas, involves the animals’ friendly river race being beset by rain, churning the waters and swelling the depths. It’s a terrifying experience, one requiring extensive collaboration between the likes of clever Rabbit, fame-hungry Ox, happy-go-lucky Dog, and the rest of the colorful cast, who band together through the power of friendship—and with more than a little bit of song and dance along the way.  

Aayani channeled her passion for scenic design, puppetry, voiceover, mask-making, and other pursuits into the dynamic performance, which won audiences over after its debut in 2024. Thanks to the play’s relatively short length, English-language lyrics, stunning garden-inspired set design, and the performers’ colorful animal masks, many have hailed Big Swim as a requisite introduction to opera for both kids and adults. Each of the six opera singers plays two different animals, wearing easily altered costumes and detailed headpieces with alternating faces on either side that they flip depending on the role. Even from the back of the crowd, Aayani’s work stands out with bold palettes and easily identifiable masks wearing neutral expressions that can change based on lighting and the actors’ positioning. Her skills might not be literal magic—to label them so would impugn all the devotion and sweat equity that goes into crafting such complex masterpieces—but they certainly give that impression. That’s precisely why Aayani’s become such a sought-after talent in Houston and beyond, with a community that has rallied behind her.

“I don’t have a family here, and the theater community is my family, from the biggest theaters to the smallest ones. Everybody welcomed me with open arms, and everybody is always so kind, so generous, so understanding,” Aayani says. “I’ve gone through ups and downs during all these years, with immigration, with life changes and everything, and I always felt supported.”

Born and raised in Iran, the artist first learned the basics of drawing and design in high school. She majored in puppetry at the University of Tehran and later traveled extensively across Europe and Asia to perform and direct puppet shows at festivals in countries such as Poland, China, and Sri Lanka. While back home in Tehran, she performed voiceover work for what she estimates to be “thousands of episodes” of television, as well as producing, directing, and acting in puppet shows specifically for an adult audience. One of Aayani’s first post-collegiate professional performances was an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s play Krapp’s Last Tape (she served as both director and designer for this Theatre of the Absurd production, which features an elderly man eating a banana while reliving his past through recorded audio journals).

Seeking to grow her already promising career even further, Aayani moved from her former base in Portland to Houston, where she completed her master’s degree in scenic design at the University of Houston in 2020. The move offered her a chance to break some new ground in the city’s performing arts scene. With no puppet theater companies in the city, Aayani tried to create her own thing, and worked on productions at Alley Theatre, Catastrophic Theatre, Main Street Theater, and Discovery Green, among others. Her work has earned her grants from the City of Houston, which she used to conceive, direct, and produce the family-friendly puppet show The Moonlit Princess at Rec Room Arts in 2022. Based on the Persian fairy tale, the play follows Mah Pishooni, an orphan girl who embarks on an adventure under the guidance of a yellow cow. Along the way, she encounters ghouls, frogs, and hags, all the while learning valuable lessons about kindness and staying true to yourself despite significant setbacks.

“We have a lot of folklore and fairy tales in my culture, and I wanted to do that for the longest time. And then it just happened, where everything fell into place for me to be able to tell that story at the best time with the best team I could ever ask for,” Aayani says.

Aayani also directed The Swan Painter, which debuted in May 2025. Held at Downtown’s Discovery Green, the performance strayed from Aayani’s puppetry, fusing live music, lighting design, and dance to convey the journey of a painter as he doggedly pursues the concept of true beauty. She originally envisioned the Japanese-inspired tale for indoors, but when the chance to use the park’s lake as the backdrop presented itself, she knew she had to take it.

Today, Aayani says she spends 60 percent of her time in Houston, and the other 40 percent traveling to work on various theater projects around the country in places like Arkansas, North Carolina, and New York. Even as her career expands across the country, Aayani says her heart remains rooted in Houston. It’s where she built a community, carved space for her unique form of storytelling, and found the freedom to merge Iranian folklore and puppetry with large-scale scenic design on her own terms.

“I’ve been able to sustain this kind of living as a freelancer [in Houston], which I don’t know if I would be able to do in other cities…I think the main thing for me is a sense of community, that if I have a question, if I’m happy, if I’m sad, if I need something, if I need guidance or an opinion, I have a big community behind me,” Aayani says. “… That’s something truly to be grateful for.”

Meow Wolf is one of her most recently unveiled undertakings. After considering hundreds of pitches, the immersive exhibition space chose Aayani as one of 35 Houston artists to showcase their vision. Using the provided prompt, “sound and sound waves,” Aayani interpreted and designed as she dreamed. A partnership with long-time collaborator and composer Hessam Dianpour yielded a soothing room filled with blue lights, featuring a pomegranate tree at its center and hidden compartments containing figures of women with their hair down, creating music.

“I created something as my tribute to the women of my country,” Aayani says, noting that, in Iran, it’s illegal for women to perform or sing solo in public. Here, though, this calm, hopeful, and “women-centric” room offers a moment of reflection, respite, and possibility. “It’s telling a story,” she says. And the next act is already underway.

Aayani is slated to direct Anonymous at University of Houston in October and will serve as the scenic designer of the Alley’s production of English in February 2026. Even though Aayani travels the country to share her gifts with wider audiences, she always makes her way back to Houston, where the local community continues to set her up for growth and success. “I still am telling the stories I want to tell, doing the work I want to do,” Aayani says.