Born in Queens, NY in the U.S, Meranda Flachs-Surmanek (they/them) is an interdisciplinary facilitator and scholar-activist practicing people’s theater. As a facilitator, Meranda creates opportunities for people to perform differently with each other, on stage, in our organizations, and in civic life.

With the Mellon Foundation funded Monuments Across Appalachian Places project, Meranda supports community leaders to use participatory arts and commemoration as tools for organizing, storytelling, and social change.

Meranda collaborates with Wemanity Coaching, and is a 2026 NYSCA Support for Artists grantee, working on a devised theatre project with people who have a relationship to psychiatric facilities, exploring the theme of freedom.  

Additionally, Meranda is a 2023-24 Forefront Fellow with the Urban Design Forum, a Co-Investigator with the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine working to explore the relationship between the arts and social isolation, and a collaborator of the award-winning theater Pink Fang (formerly Ping Chong + Company).

Meranda is influenced by experiences in the EmergeNYC Fellowship, their work with Arts for Art / the Vision Festival, Nancy Agabian’s Creative Writing from Queer Resistance workshop, and other radical learning environments which help us unearth new truths about our shared world, and remind us how to hold freedom, joy, and beloved community all at once.  

Meranda is a graduate of New York University and Virginia Tech, where they obtained their Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning and Master’s of Fine Arts in Theatre for Public Dialogue. Meranda is a Coach with the Center for Communicating Science, with a previous appointment as an Adjunct Instructor.

Past projects include the development of theatre programs that address moral injury and burnout with 1,000 healthcare workers at 20 hospitals across the U.S. as a Lead Facilitator with The Clinic Performance, and Artist-in-Residence at Carilion Clinic.

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Meranda is a NEW AESTHETICS Fellow with Theatre Replacement and Visiting Fellow at Skidmore College's MDOCS Storytellers' Institute. They were a SU-CASA Artist-in-Residence with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Social Practice Artist-in-Residence with ProjectArt, Fellow at The Performance Project at University Settlement, EmergeNYC Fellow and Fellow with The Art & Law Program. Meranda is a graduate of the Training Institute for Artists and Administrators in Healthcare and Creative Aging hosted by The Creative Center at University Settlement. They have trained with the Anti Oppression Resource & Training Alliance (AORTA), Center for Artistic Activism’s Art Action Academy, the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, Lifetime Arts, New York University's Art & Public Politics Department, and TimeSlips Creative Storytelling.

As a civic practice artist, Meranda’s work takes place in public space, hospitals, and community spaces. Meranda’s work has been presented with numerous cultural institutions, including: Abrons Arts Center (NY), Dixon Place (NY), Goggleworks (PA), Leslie-Lohman Museum (NY), Mitchell Art Gallery (EDM, AB, Canada), The Performance Project (NY), Play Perform Learn Grow (Thessaloniki, Greece), and Theaterlab (NY). Current projects are supported by Actors Theatre of Louisville and Kentucky Nurses Association; the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech; the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology, and the Oncology Nursing Foundation.

Meranda has trained with the Anti Oppression Resource & Training Alliance (Generative Conflict, Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals and Co-Creating Accessibility), in Restorative Justice (Justice from the Inside Up with Let's Circle Up), in Theatre of the Oppressed (george emilion sanchez, Bárbara Santos of Kuringa, and Katy Rubin), in collaboration and conflict coaching with the Center for Communicating Science, and in a range of facilitation methodologies with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, Education for Racial Equity, the Center for Performance & Civic Practice, Columbia Law School, the Center for Artistic Activism, and the Institute for Community Action Training (ICAT). Meranda also has a specialized focus on facilitation in the context of burnout, moral injury, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress through  training and work with Grief Recovery Specialist Tara Rynders/The Clinic Performance. 

Meranda has led workshops with social service and health providers across the U.S., including Carilion Clinic, Denver Health Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, Northwell, Oncology Nursing Foundation, Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, Staten Island University Hospital, and The Creative Center/Wellness Together at University Settlement.  

Meranda holds an M.F.A. in Theatre, Directing & Public Dialogue, which is a specialized degree focusing on using drama and creative facilitation as tools to explore, analyze, and transform social, cultural, or political challenges. Meranda’s second Master's in Urban & Regional Planning supports their ability to analyze systemic conditions that produce social challenges.