About

Lindsay Surmacz specializes in producing coordinated confusion - bringing together diverse elements and rendering them in vibrant light, color, and sound. Her favorite experiment is enhancing and exalting the symbiotic relationship between science and the arts.

Lindsay has worked in the performing arts - both on stage and off - since she was old enough to hold a paintbrush. As a teenager, she dreamed of playing drums for Cirque Du Soleil. She attended Purdue University where she earned a degree in Creative Writing and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa but spent most of her time in the hall of music where she was a decorated percussionist in several ensembles.

Her passion for putting on a show followed her into science education where, for more than a decade, she has developed unique learning experiences and managed programs at organizations such as Carnegie Science Center and the University of Pittsburgh. She was a regular contributor to the "Let's talk about science" column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for several years.

In 2017, she walked her inner daredevil through the doors of Iron City Circus Arts where she has been a regular ever since studying multiple aerial disciplines and juggling. She performs with the Pittsburgh Circus Arts Collaborative, and in 2020, she launched Punk & Pie Circus, a vlog and video greeting site that combines some of her favorite creative activities: percussion, juggling, character work, video production, and sight-seeing in her hometown of Pittsburgh. Her most cherished project, however, is educational outreach in which she teaches young learners science through circus arts. She debuted The Starry MessengerⓇ in 2019 and has been growing its scope and audience ever since.

Lindsay finds joy in living a life that is part artist, part mad scientist. The thing she is most grateful for in her life is her family which includes her extended circus family and her fellow science “nerds.” She is the baby sister to 5 siblings, an aunt of 11 nieces and nephews, a cousin, niece, and the lucky daughter of her heroes: her late father, Gary, and her mom and best friend, Christie. When she's not “circusing,” she delights in good food, good movies, and good music (especially when it's played during a laser show she copilots in the Buhl Planetarium at Carnegie Science Center).

Lindsay In a Moment

Favorite bands: Dave Matthews Band, Rush, and Pink Floyd.

Influencers: Her siblings, Cirque Du Soleil, Fred Rogers, Louisa May Alcott, Eddie Izzard, and Galileo.

Books she’s loaned to loved ones: Untamed by Glennon Doyle,

The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim,

Stick Control: For the Snare Drummer by George Lawrence Stone.

Movies she can’t remember not knowing: The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Little Mermaid (1989),

Fiddler On the Roof (1971), Hello, Dolly! (1969), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).