Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Miranda.
Hi Meredith, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a multilingual (English, Spanish, Tagalog) Filipina-American writer, actor, and director.
I first fell in love with storytelling through the Free Public Library of Philadelphia on 5th Street, a few minutes from the home I grew up in. It was there that I first discovered classic films directed by Kazan, Almodóvar, Buñuel, Tornatore, plays by Tennessee Williams, and the books of Francesca Lia Block, which were the childhood inspirations that have inspired my journey as a storyteller today.
I began my creative life as a writer. Language and literature are my longest-living passions. Writing has always been the foundation for my work. Cinema, however, is my most sacred love and is the ultimate goal.
As a young girl, my mother asked me how my heroes went about their journeys’ in the movie making business. Having had the good fortune to belong to a library that contained riches in international and domestic, contemporary and classic films to borrow, I took full advantage and watched as much as I could. I learned that the majority of my cinematic heroes were directors and that they began their journey in the theatre.
For that reason, I pursued training at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC under scholarship and studied with Janis Powell, Jackie Bartone, Zenon Kruszelnicki, Barbara Rubin, Heather Benton, and many more theatre professionals who I thank and attribute much of my discipline, and long-lived passion for theatre and performance from having had the privilege to learn from them. The conservatory training I received at AADA NYC is to this day, invaluable to me and has shaped me as a working artist.
For the last decade, I’ve focused on acting and writing. Within this past year, I began my journey towards directing. The Long Beach theatre community, including James Rice, who gave me my first opportunity to work towards direction as his assistant director for 12 Angry Jurors, and most especially The Long Beach Playhouse, have been instrumental in my growth as a director. I’ve been blessed with so many magical opportunities to direct within this last year, including my full-length directorial debut in the LBP’s Studio theatre production of Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House.
I am currently directing RENT, the musical at the Long Beach Playhouse(running October 14-November 18th), which will mark the one-year anniversary since I first began my journey as a director. It is my first musical theatre endeavor, and it’s been a phenomenal challenge and experience.
My greatest goal is to continue to learn, grow, and someday gain the ability to utilize my skills as an actor, director and writer in tandem to tell stories.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As blessed as I’ve been in my creative endeavors, the road toward making a living as a creative person has definitely had its challenges. The biggest of which has been balancing day job-creative work-life balance. Overall, every risk I’ve taken has been well worth the reward. I am learning with every experience that self-care is essential.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a writer and director, I’ve found my calling and sensibilities to be most inspired by and rooted in magical realism. As an actor and performance artist, the Greeks, tragedies, physical theatre, and Commedia dell’arte have been my greatest outlets.
I’m currently writing a two-part crime/quantum multiverse novella about a pair of lovers and their fates had they voyaged down different paths and made different choices. Part one is a fairytale; part two is a nightmare. I’ve also spent over a decade working on a crime/epic novel about an Italian American syndicate family crossing paths and merging existence with a modern day Holly Golightly, spanning through generations, Tel Aviv, Sicily, and NYC. This novel is my baby, and it has been quite a gestation period. I’ve lived many different lives since I first began this story, and am hoping to focus on this and my other project for the remainder of this year and the one to come.
As an actor I’ve had opportunities to play a myriad of incredible characters. I am most proud of my performance in Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists as Olympe de Gouges at LBP, for which I was nominated on BroadwayWorld in 2022 for Best Performer in a Play. Olympe was the most challenging role I’ve had to date, the most intimate, and was also the catalyst to finally begin the pursuit towards my dream of directing.
Directing RENT has been the most challenging production I’ve worked on. At this moment, we are two weeks away from opening, however I am certain we will get to the heart of this legendary and seminal work of musical theatre. I am blessed to collaborate with such a phenomenal cast crew and co-director and am very much looking forward to opening.
My biggest pride and joy as a director thus far, however, has been The Clean House. I couldn’t have hoped for a more fitting directorial debut, as Sarah Ruhl’s work truly appealed to my sensibilities, especially in the magical realism realm. The collective of actors, artists, and designers whom collaborated on that project worked in such an interconnected and magical way that I will hold that production in my heart forever.
I can’t say that I’m unique or original; all inspiration comes from inspiration. I am married to my creativity. Storytelling is my soulmate. To have the ability to tell stories through the mediums that I have is an honor and privilege that I hold sacred. I believe that this is reflected in all of my work.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’ve always been creative! I loved to read books, watch movies, and was very interested in dance. These are all things I still do today religiously. I haven’t changed too much since then. I’m just a bit more balanced and disciplined and perhaps a little less shy.
Lately, however I have been thinking a lot about the little girl I once was. The one who used to sit on her porch in Olney with a fold-out table, books and papers painted with slanted curly scribbles and sketches, and pens scattered throughout. The little girl who watched movies late into the night, who never slept. The little girl who used to pray to God that she’d be able to turn her pain into something beautiful and magical. As of late, I’ve been learning to embrace her with the hope of regaining some of her courage and stamina. In many ways, I am still that little girl.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.backstage.com/meredithmiranda
- Instagram: @meredithmiranda
