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Alex Meda
she/her/ella

Ensemble Practitioner | Director-Devisor | Facilitator | Process Architect | Cultural Strategist 

Alexandra Meda (she/ella) is known for her groundbreaking work in collaborative artistry and ensemble praxis. She is a director, deviser, facilitator, and architect of immersive theatrical experiences that bring joy, confront hard truths, and foster internal restoration. Rooted in deep collaboration and requiring vulnerable self-examination from all involved, her work transforms the theatrical space into a sandbox for innovation, an arena for individual-driven social change, and a sacred vessel for healing. Through her art-making, she cultivates meaning by engaging with contemporary cultural phenomena and exploring them within her emotionally charged and unapologetic performances. 

As Artistic Director of Studio Luna (www.holastudiolubna.org) and Impact Director for the National New Play Network, she's at the forefront of change for ensemble and new-play theaters. She co-lead the transition and the current operations of the Network of Ensemble Theaters (www.ensembletheaters.net).  

Meda champions spaces for Women of Color in devised theater, orchestrating partnerships across communities, specifically through Studio Luna (FKA Teatro Luna) a leading Latinx and Women of Color artistic hub, best known for its cutting-edge performances and contributions to creative collaboration, new play development, and theatre as a healing practice.

Luna is stewarded by a Latinx and WOC artistic collective that tours original performances internationally with artistic ensembles founded in 2000 (Chicago) and 2014 (LA). In 2018 she opened a physical space, Studio Luna, a culture change and collaboration training laboratory for activism, artmaking, workshops, community connection, and storytelling incubation in Boyle Heights. Recently, she served as the casting director and one of the creative producers for the English translation of the award-winning podcast Mujeres Del Fuego, coming out soon as Women of Fire as an Audible Original produced by La Corriente Del Golfo- a production company based in Mexico, founded in 2018 by Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. In 2022 she directed and produced Studio Luna’s first audio release, NOT SO MERRY & BRIGHT: A Christmas Mixtape of original stories on the not-so-beautiful parts of the holidays and challenging family dynamics, and in 2019 she directed and co-produced the Audible Original called TALKING WHILE FEMALE & OTHER DANGEROUS ACTS: 25 Stories on Risk & Resilience, with original music, that launched Audible Latino. She is currently closing out adapting for audio and film the violence against women epic trilogy, GENERATION SEX, LOVESICK, & THE TIMES — supported by the New England Foundation For The Arts, and created by Studio Luna. She is a co-host of the TALKING WHILE FCKD podcast and a live storytelling show of the same title. Follow Studio Luna adventures at  instagram.com/holastudioluna

As a facilitator and mediator for anti-racist, equity work and as a collaboration trainer, she is obsessed with leading long-term organizational and individual transformation processes. She works from the premise that theatre and writing can serve as a tool for activating vulnerability and expanding our collective imagination. This expertise extends to her firm, Culture Change Lab, a change navigation firm developing anti-racist frameworks and anti-oppression training for organizations, teams, and individuals alongside deeply collaborative strategy consulting for strategic planning, hiring efforts, and accountability and transparency work. Recent clients include Sundance, ARTNY, Center Theatre Group, and The Colored Girl Chronicles.

Regarding community engagement, Meda is also involved in Penumbra Theatre's Center for Racial Healing and artEquity's Getty Emerging Professionals Hub and BIPOC Leadership Circle programs. She advises on several national arts initiatives, demonstrating her commitment to theater and cultural transformation, including her work as an advisory member of the Theatre Communications Group's Accountability For Abundance National Initiative and TCG's Thrive re-granting program. She actively participates in the National Cultural Navigations Project and is a member of the National Coalition of BITOC Networks and The National Non-Profit Theatres Coalition. She is a member of the Executive Committee for Twenty43 Ventures. She also served as a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons from 2013 to 2020. She is a 2020 Center Theatre Group Sherwood Award Finalist, and in the past, she was named Inspiring Young Latina by Latina Magazine and a TCG Young Leader of Color. She is a graduate of DePaul University with a BFA in Theatre Management and a BA in American Studies with an emphasis in Race & Culture and Gender Studies. She is also a graduate of the Kennedy Center Leadership Midwest (2009-2011), American Express Leadership Training (2014), and the NALAC Leadership Institute (2015). In 2015, she was a Mellon Foundation Artistic Leadership Fellow at the LATC. In 2019, she participated in the National Directing Devised Training Institute at Pangea World Theatre & Art 2 Action as a mentee of her long-time mentor and friend, the inimitable Diane Rodriguez. 

She has a forthcoming book project on the relationship between collaboration, failure, and innovation. She is obsessed with cooking fusion food, wishes she was an interior designer, meticulously shops for stationery goods, travels recklessly and only ever with a carry-on and backpack, and loves to ask, “What are you thinking?” way more than is good for her.

Since 2017, you can find her facilitating Creative Renewal, Collaborative Leadership, and Leading Change retreats, workshops, and training events in her favorite cities worldwide.

Building Our Own Table series graphic
Podcast

Architecting Organizational Change with Alexandra Meda

28 October 2025

Alexandra Meda, founder of Culture Change Lab, discusses mediation and facilitation at various predominantly white organizations, and championing change work on the professional and individual levels. As an artist, she finds creativity in offering tools instead of ready-made solutions.

A group of people sitting around a campfire.
Essay

Transitioning to Shared Leadership

13 May 2025

In leadership transition, structure follows values. Consultant and artistic leader Alex Meda makes the case for values-based cultural transformation as a crucial component of establishing shared leadership in theatre organizations.

A promotional graphic for from the ground up podcast featuring Alexandra Meda and Maya Malan-Gonzalez.
Podcast

Studio Luna’s Evolving Trajectory

19 December 2024

Current members of Studio Luna chronicle their twenty-five-year history and the evolution of their practice, programming, and location—most notably from their origin in Chicago to Los Angeles. This was originally recorded live for the 2024 Theatre Communications Group Conference.

Essay

A Snapshot of Latina/o Theatre in Chicago

22 July 2015

Kristiana Colón, Henry Godinez, Isaac Gomez, Ricardo Gutierrez, Sandra Marquez, and Alexandra Meda reflect on the Latina/o theatre scene in Chicago.  

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