Shyama Nithiananda

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.

Plays

  • Feeding the Cat, Incorrectly, Several Times Over by Shyama Nithiananda
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Relationships, female friendship + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, movement/physical
    Keyword: Relationships, female friendship, domestic abuse, domestic violence, medical, infidelity, love, break ups, community responsibility, duty
    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: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: mothers, accepting death + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: mothers, accepting death, coping with loss, family, childhood friendship, estranged friendships, conflict of faith, female friendship, dystopian future
    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: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: adventure, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Crisis of Faith, faith crisis + 5 more
    Genre: adventure, drama, mystery/thriller, political
    Keyword: Crisis of Faith, faith crisis, Dystopian, Government surveillance, first love, teachers and students, Rebellion
    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: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: american immigration, green card + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period, political
    Keyword: american immigration, green card, arranged marriage, Sri Lankan Civil War, cultural identity
    Set in America at the advent of the Sri Lankan civil war, a young woman's work promotion sends ripples through her personal life.