In July and August 2026, Meranda Flachs-Surmanek was the Social Justice Artist in Residence at Teatro Yerbabruja.
The residency was supported by NYS Danceforce, in collaboration with Margarita Espada. The residency centered on physical theater, movement, and storytelling for the Teatro Yerbabruja Youth Ensemble, transforming personal memory into shared performance.
As part of the residency, Meranda invited playwright Yekta Khagani to join, working together to explore the world of her play Aulasy and to generate a performance inspired by the ensemble’s social contexts.
The residency was structured around four core creative modules:-
The Body as Archive, which explores the body as a living repository of memory and lived experience;
- Collective Care in Motion, focusing on ensemble-building through trust-based movement practices;
- Documentary Movement & Spoken Gesture, where youth develop short movement-based testimonies rooted in their own stories; and
- Devising the Ensemble Piece, in which individual narratives are woven into a collective performance through collaborative decision-making.
Meranda and Yekta are seeking additional residencies to continue developing Aulasy in 2026/27.
