Mekala Sridhar (she/her) is a DC-based theatre director, playwright, and producer. Her artmaking is grounded in creating radically inclusive, collaborative work, and building community through theatre is central to her practice. In the past, she has worked in artistic and producorial capacities at theatres like Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Mosaic Theatre Company, Solas Nua, Studio Theatre, and Baltimore Center Stage to name a few. Mekala came to IYS through serving as the community organizer for Art of Care and enjoys finding ways to bring together art and activism to collectively dream of better futures. She is especially invigorated by how both theatre and IYS serve as ways for folks to come together and create community while holding space to delve deeply into the questions that are pertinent in our everyday lives, not necessarily with the goal of coming up with “an answer,” but with the idea that this kind of collaborative exploration can help deepen our understanding of ourselves and each other.