SOUTH ASIAN REPERTORY

SOUTH ASIAN
REPERTORY

Resilience. Courage. Optimism. Collective flourishing.

A National South Asian Theater & Film Company — training, producing, and researching stage and screen work from across the South Asian region.

Partner With Us Our Vision
Who We Are

Vision

South Asian Repertory is a national-level theater and film company built for artists and students from across the South Asian region — including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and the Maldives — dedicated to rigorous training, ensemble collaboration, research, and the creation of original work for the stage and the screen.

Our vision is to establish a national South Asian theater and film company that produces work of the highest artistic standard while cultivating the next generation of actors, directors, playwrights, screenwriters, designers, and filmmakers from across South Asia. We believe that great theater and great cinema are built through sustained artistic practice, rigorous study, and a shared commitment to showcasing the plays, films, and cultures of the South Asian region.

Rooted in resilience, courage, optimism, and collective flourishing, we seek to create an enduring national institution that brings South Asian artists together to showcase the region's stage and screen work for audiences, institutions, and partners across South Asia and the global diaspora.

Our Structure

Two Interconnected Wings

South Asian Repertory grows through two interconnected wings — the Repertory, our producing company for theatre and film, and the Indian Arts Conservatory, our center for books, education, and research. Together they form a single artistic ecosystem where production and scholarship continually strengthen one another.

South Asian Repertory

A professional producing company for theatre and film

South Asian Repertory develops and produces original work for the stage and the screen, bringing together actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers from across the region. Its work is organized around three core areas:

New Play Development

We commission and develop original plays by South Asian and diaspora writers, offering dramaturgical support, readings, and workshop productions that carry new work from first draft to opening night.

Reimagining the Classics

We reinterpret canonical South Asian and world texts — from Kalidasa and Tagore to Girish Karnad and Badal Sircar — through bold contemporary productions that recover their relevance for today's audiences.

Devised Theatre

Through ensemble-based, collaborative processes, our artists build original work from research, improvisation, and lived experience — creating theatre that emerges from the room, not the page alone.

Indian Arts Conservatory

A center for books, education, and research

The Conservatory is the intellectual home of South Asian Repertory — publishing books, translations, and play texts; developing education programs; and conducting sustained research across theatre, visual art, film, and the humanities.

Writers' Workshop

A structured program for playwrights and screenwriters to develop scripts through peer feedback, mentorship, and staged readings that test new work before an audience.

South Asian Research Center

A dedicated center for archival and field research into South Asian performance traditions, oral history, and cultural memory — grounding our work in scholarship.

Education Channel

A YouTube channel and podcast sharing lessons, lectures, script readings, and interviews on South Asian theatre and film with a global audience.

How We Begin

Programs

Before mounting productions and films, South Asian Repertory builds its artistic community through regular play readings, script readings, acting classes, workshops, scene study, and discussions — establishing the shared language, trust, and discipline that ensemble-based theatre and film work requires.

Youth Classes

Theater, music, and film classes for young people, introducing foundational technique in acting, voice, movement, storytelling, and on-camera performance while building confidence, discipline, and creative collaboration.

Professional Development

Workshops and training for working artists and educators deepening craft in acting, stage and screen directing, and devising, and building the skills to teach and lead within theatre, film, and music.

Study

Foundational Reading & Viewing List

Plays

  • Abhijñānaśākuntalam — Kalidasa
  • Mṛcchakaṭika — Shudraka
  • Tughlaq — Girish Karnad
  • Hayavadana — Girish Karnad
  • Andha Yug — Dharamvir Bharati
  • Ghashiram Kotwal — Vijay Tendulkar
  • Evam Indrajit — Badal Sircar
  • Raktakarabi — Rabindranath Tagore

Films

  • Pather Panchali — Satyajit Ray
  • Garm Hava — M.S. Sathyu
  • Meghe Dhaka Tara — Ritwik Ghatak
  • Ankur — Shyam Benegal
  • Moner Manush — Goutam Ghose
  • Joint Family — Ismail Merchant (doc.)
  • A Fort on the Plain — Merchant Ivory

New Work & Research

A central mission of South Asian Repertory is the creation of original plays and films — for the stage and for the screen — grounded in historical research, literature, oral history, and community collaboration. Areas of long-term artistic exploration include:

Our Mission

Building a Lasting National Institution

South Asian Repertory exists to build a lasting national institution that serves South Asia through theater and film — preserving and reinterpreting the region's great dramatic and cinematic traditions, training exceptional artists, and commissioning bold new plays and films that engage audiences, institutions, and partners across generations and cultures.

Board of Directors

We are building a board drawn from a diverse range of backgrounds across artistic disciplines, professions, and communities to guide the company's growth.

Repertory & Film Artists

We are seeking the best professional and teaching artists — for the stage and for the screen — who bring both artistic excellence and a commitment to mentorship.

Institutional & Funding Partners

We invite institutions, foundations, and individual funders to partner with us through production funding, fellowships, residencies, and co-productions.

Who Leads Us

Leadership Team

South Asian Repertory is led by a distributed leadership team spanning theatre, film, education, and production, anchored by a rotating council of co-artistic directors drawn from across the South Asian region.

Co-Artistic Directors

A council of 3–5, representing the South Asian region

Aditi Arora
India
Position Open
India
Position Open
Sri Lanka
Position Open
Nepal / Bhutan / Maldives / Afghanistan / Bangladesh / Pakistan
Position Open
Nepal / Bhutan / Maldives / Afghanistan / Bangladesh / Pakistan
Associate Artistic Director of New Work Swaran Singh
Executive Managing Director Nikita Passwani
Executive Producer Position Open
Director of Education & Outreach Position Open
Director of Institutional Advancement Position Open
Director of Community & Equity Position Open
Director of South Asian Research Centre Position Open
Director of Marketing & Communications Aditi Dubey
Director of Finance & Administration Position Open
Head of Conservatory Position Open
Head of Theatre Department Position Open
Head of Film Department Position Open
Head of Music Department Position Open
Head Production Director Position Open
Associate Production Director Soumya Singh, Avneet Singh
General Manager Position Open
Several roles above remain open, with a standing commitment to South Asian women and women of color in leadership. We welcome introductions to outstanding candidates and institutional partners who can help us fill them.
Meet the Team

Founding Company

Aditi Arora

Aditi Arora

Co-Artistic Director (India) · Actor · Writer

Aditi Arora is an actor, published writer, translator, voice-over artist, and singer based in Mumbai. She holds a BA (Hons) and a Masters in English Literature from Miranda House, University of Delhi, and a PG Diploma in Theatre with a specialization in Acting from the National School of Drama. She is also trained in Daastangoi, the ancient art of Urdu storytelling, and has been a part of the improv group 'The Bombay Harold.' She is currently part of three running plays as an actor: The Company Theatre's 'Baaghi Albele,' Ujaagar Dramatics Association's 'Mehroon,' and the 2026 META-nominated 'Kadambari.' Apart from writing and translating several performance pieces for the stage, Aditi has performed and facilitated theatre and storytelling workshops at literature and theatre festivals across the country. She was also the face of the recent Daughters' Day campaign by Clinic Plus, which won The Blue Elephant Award for Advertising.

Photo coming soon

Nikita Passwani

Executive Managing Director

Nikita Passwani serves as Executive Managing Director of South Asian Repertory, overseeing the company's production, operations, and institutional partnerships across its theatre and film divisions. A full biography will be added here shortly.

Swaran Singh

Swaran Singh

Founder · Associate Artistic Director of New Work

Swaran Singh is a theater educator, director, and actor committed to using the arts as a catalyst for healing, education, social transformation, and intercultural dialogue. He currently serves as a Visiting Professor at the National School of Drama, India's premier theater institution, and holds an MFA in Acting from Brown University / Trinity Repertory Conservatory, alongside an Associate Degree in Filmmaking and Performing Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. His practice spans theater education, new play development, applied theater, and culturally responsive pedagogy, grounded in research on modern psychology by Paul Ekman, Lisa Feldman Barrett, and Daniel Goleman. He has worked with Trinity Repertory Company and Theater for the New City, and apprenticed under Ariane Mnouchkine during Théâtre du Soleil's 2017 residency in Pondicherry. As a producer at Theater for the New City, he led "Invasion" (South Asian Performing Arts Award, Best Ensemble, 2015) and "The Queen" (Innovative New York Theater Award, 2016).

Get Involved

Partner With Us

Fund the Company

Support production budgets, fellowships, and residencies across our theatre and film wings as a founding institutional or individual funder.

Co-Produce With Us

Partner on a stage production, a film, or a devised project rooted in South Asian stories, with credit as a producing or presenting partner.

Teach or Collaborate

Join as faculty in the Repertory or Conservatory, lead a workshop, or collaborate as a director, writer, designer, or filmmaker.

Host or Present

Bring a South Asian Repertory production, film screening, or workshop to your institution, festival, or campus.

GET IN TOUCH

[email protected]  ·  southasianrepertory.org