Shyama Nithiananda

Shyama is a biracial Sri-Lankan-American playwright, director, and actor based in North Texas. She earned a BFA in Theatre Studies with a minor in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University, where she was also a recipient of the 2021 Rosenfield Playwriting Award.

Shyama is a biracial Sri-Lankan-American playwright, director, and actor based in North Texas. She earned a BFA in Theatre Studies with a minor in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University, where she was also a recipient of the 2021 Rosenfield Playwriting Award.

Scripts

Feeding the Cat, Incorrectly, Several Times Over

by Shyama Nithiananda

Cast Size
5
Genre
dark comedy,
drama,
movement/physical

Jo and Jen live parallel lives: They study medicine. They pay the rent. They fight with their partners. And they keep big secrets. When Jo's decision to keep a patient's secret backfires, she is forced to reckon with her responsibility to partners, strangers, and enemies alike.

Jo and Jen live parallel lives: They study medicine. They pay the rent. They fight with their partners. And they keep big secrets. When Jo's decision to keep a patient's secret backfires, she is forced to reckon with her responsibility to partners, strangers, and enemies alike.

The Way It Tasted

by Shyama Nithiananda

Cast Size
5
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
drama

Once childhood best friends, Mel meets Lee on a deserted beach after years of estrangement to gift her a stolen, smuggled, ziplock bag - containing her mother’s ashes.

Once childhood best friends, Mel meets Lee on a deserted beach after years of estrangement to gift her a stolen, smuggled, ziplock bag - containing her mother’s ashes.

St. Joseph of Arimathea's Home for Semi-Orphaned Strays

by Shyama Nithiananda

Cast Size
6—7
Genre
adventure,
drama,
mystery/thriller,
political

Levi, a young seminarian, receives a mysterious message on the eve of his ordination that leads him to uncover a dark secret about his childhood home, St. Joseph’s - a place of which there is no record.

Levi, a young seminarian, receives a mysterious message on the eve of his ordination that leads him to uncover a dark secret about his childhood home, St. Joseph’s - a place of which there is no record.

Lavani

by Shyama Nithiananda

Cast Size
3
Genre
comedy,
dark comedy,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
period,
political

Set in America at the advent of the Sri Lankan civil war, a young woman's work promotion sends ripples through her personal life.

Set in America at the advent of the Sri Lankan civil war, a young woman's work promotion sends ripples through her personal life.