Lavina Jadhwani is a Chicago-based director, adaptor, and activist. She gravitates towards heightened language texts from Eastern and Western canons. Her adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol premiered at the Guthrie in Minneapolis in 2021 and will remain on the boards for years to come. Other plays include Shakuntala (adapted from Kalidasa), Birbal and Akbar: Tales of Wit and Wisdom from India, and a three part cycle based on The Ramayana that focuses on the femme characters of Sita, Kaikeyi, and Shurpanakha. She also has translations of four Chekhov plays (Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, and The Seagull) available.

In 2019, Lavina became the first woman of color to direct Shakespeare at the Guthrie. Other directing credits include Asolo Rep, the Gift, Mixed Blood, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Rep of St. Louis, Teatro Vista, and Rasaka Theatre Company, where she served as Artistic Director for 6 years. Her theatre training includes a well-rounded education (BFA in Scenic Design and MA in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon; MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University), numerous fellowships (including Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Phil Killian Directing Fellowship, the O’Neill/NNPN's National Directors Fellowship, the Drama League's Classical Directing Fellowship), and more than two decades of professional experience. Her critical writing has been featured on HowlRound and Rescripted and is regularly circulated in classrooms across the country.

Lavina serves on the board of the National New Play Network and the Chicago Inclusion Project, and she volunteers regularly with Unlock Her Potential, a national mentorship program for women of color. She is a proud alum of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (aka "Hogwarts for Hackers"), where she received the show choir's Bob Fosse Choreography Award and the drama club's "lifetime achievement" award.