Project will reimagine 'One Thousand and One Nights' through immersive storytelling

What if Scheherazade had access to artificial intelligence (AI)?

At Virginia Tech, that question isn’t just theoretical – it’s the starting point for a bold, interdisciplinary experiment in storytelling. A new project is reimagining "One Thousand and One Nights" through immersive media, generative AI, and a contemporary lens that places women’s voices at the center of the narrative.

Led by Eiman Elgewely, assistant professor of interior design and director of the Visualization and Virtual Reality Lab at the School of Design, the project draws inspiration from the enduring legacy of “One Thousand and One Nights,” a collection of tales shaped by Arabian, Persian, and Indian traditions. At its heart is Scheherazade, a young woman who marries a king who has vowed to execute each of his brides after a single night. To survive, she tells a story each evening, leaving it unfinished to keep the king enraptured – and herself alive.

“Reimagining 1001 Arabian Nights: AI-Driven Narratives and Immersive Digital Storytelling of Women’s Voices” is a 2025–26 Major SEAD Grant project supported by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics. The effort brings together faculty members and students across multiple disciplines to create an interactive exhibition that is as much about the future of storytelling as it is about its past.

“Scheherazade isn’t just a storyteller – she’s a strategist,” Elgewely said. “She uses narrative to navigate power, to survive, and to shape outcomes. When we reimagine her today, we’re thinking about how storytelling still functions as a form of agency and knowledge, especially for women whose voices haven’t always been centered.” 

Throughout the year, the team has been deep in production – developing generative video content, refining visual narratives, and composing immersive soundscapes. The experience is designed for the Cube at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, where audiences will move through the story rather than simply observe it.

“This is not a film – it’s an immersive experience,” Elgewely said. “Working in an immersive environment changes how you think about storytelling. It’s not linear – you’re thinking about movement, timing, and how the audience navigates the space.”

The role of AI

Artificial intelligence plays a central role, but not in the way popular narratives often suggest. Rather than positioning AI as an author, the team treats it as a collaborator – one that expands creative possibilities while still requiring human direction. That process includes confronting the limitations and biases embedded within AI systems.

“When we started generating images, we immediately saw bias in the outputs,” Elgewely said. “Sometimes the characters and environments looked Westernized. At other times, they didn’t reflect the region at all. That’s where the work really begins: correcting and refining those results.” 

“We … addressed issues of AI bias, introducing essential checks and balances into the digital representation of these narratives,” said Jumana Al-Ahmad, visiting assistant professor of Arabic. “Our work advocated for a more nuanced portrayal of cultural heritage.”

For collaborators like Anne Elise Thomas, director of the Itraab Arabic Music Ensemble, that attention to context is essential.

“What we often call 'One Thousand and One Nights' gets reduced to 'Arabian Nights,' but in reality, this is a region shaped by centuries of cross-cultural exchange,” Thomas said. “Arabic, Persian, and South Asian traditions all intersected along routes like the Silk Road, creating a much richer artistic landscape than people tend to imagine. AI-generated music is often trained on generations of Hollywood soundtracks. Those cues can flatten a diverse region into a single emotional shorthand, and that’s something we’re intentionally working against.”

That complexity carries into the project’s sound design, where music helps shape the emotional experience. “Music is incredibly powerful in its ability to transport people,” Thomas said. “It can move you out of your current reality and into another space without you even realizing it. That’s where immersive storytelling really begins.”

An interdisciplinary project

The project’s interdisciplinary nature is central to that effort. With contributors spanning performance, design, technology, and the humanities, the work depends on collaboration across perspectives that do not always naturally align.

“Building the team was a critical part of the process,” Elgewely said. “We brought together people from music, Arabic studies, interior design, computer science, architecture, and creative technologies – each contributing a different perspective to the work.”

The project also includes Pinar Yanardag, assistant professor of computer science, and Meredith Drum, associate professor of creative technology, as well as students and alumni including Josh Okoro, Freda Hoveyda Marashi, Kiymet Akdemir, and Austin Sherwood.

For Amanda J. Nelson, associate professor of theatre, that collaboration is key to both the process and the outcome. “Our project aims to create an immersive and reflective experience, one that illuminates themes of empowerment and perseverance,” Nelson said. “From storytellers and musicians to designers and technologists, the project is truly the sum of its individual parts.”

Nelson also emphasized the importance of re-centering women’s voices within both historical and contemporary storytelling. “By centering key female characters from 'One Thousand and One Nights,' we can re-envision them as subjects of their own stories,” she said. “‘Seeing is believing,’ and by retelling stories from the past, we can inspire those in the present – and perhaps even help shape the future.”

The exhibition, planned for later this year, will bring these elements together into a fully immersive environment, combining projection, sound, and interactive narrative design.