LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (July 14, 2025)—In July 2025, at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) Pink Fang (formerly Ping Chong + Company) and the Nursing Department at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY are launching a unique arts-integrated residency designed to support graduating nursing students in their final semester called Healing Through Story.
Through this partnership, Sara Zatz and C Meranda Flachs-Surmanek are working closely with nursing students enrolled in SCR280: Leadership and Delegation to explore their personal and professional journeys as they prepare to enter the workforce.
Using Pink Fang’s interview-based methodologies and community engaged practices, students are guided through a creative process centered on narrative storytelling, intercultural communication, and self-reflection.
“This collaboration is more than a performance it’s a space where students’ voices are elevated, their experiences are honored, and their leadership skills are deepened through the power of art.” - Handan Ozbilgin, Artistic Director of LPAC.
The residency includes in-person workshop intensives and an online coaching session, culminating in a final public presentation of original, student-generated work.
For nearly all of the participating students, this is their first ever theater workshop, and a rare opportunity to step outside the academic and clinical rigor of the intensive nursing program to get to know their classmates and to express both the joys and fears of their journey in the program.
In their reflections, students shared “It was a great experience. I felt safe and supportive, and this workshop helped me to step out of my comfort zone” and “The workshop helped me to stay focused, be calm, and be supportive of my classmates.”
We are honored to support the next generation of health care professionals through storytelling and community-building. Their stories remind us of the transformative power of care—and of being truly seen.
The partnership will continue and evolve in Fall 2025.
About Pink Fang: Pink Fang creates art at the intersection of performance, community building, and social change, continuing the ethos and artistic legacy of Ping Chong. Their work centers real stories, real people, and the transformative power of collective narrative.