Priyanka is a playwright and director. She was born in India and bought up in Slough, England before she moved to Scotland to pursue a Masters in Writing for Performance at the University of St Andrews.
A 2019 graduate from the University of Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Priyanka is interested in understanding and asking questions about the socio-political world we live in today. Her work often features protagonists who experience ‘othering’, whether this is through ethnicity, disability, sexuality or gender. She is interested in exploring how this lens of identity and experience affects a character’s perception of the world and the barriers they face within it.
Priyanka’s produced work includes the 15 minute radio play Chai for Sorrow; Chai for Joy written and directed by her for BBC Radio / BBC Sounds. The radio play explores themes of culture and acceptance and involves a narrative between a British Indian mother and daughter, meeting on Mothers’ Day to drink chai together, as they navigate adolescence, sexual assault and new relationships over a course of ten years. Her short film I Contain Multitudes was produced by the Green Carnation Company for their Queer All About It film series, which was screened at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester as part of their Turn On Fest in April 2021. This piece explores faith and gender identity from the perspective of a non-binary British Indian teenager.
Priyanka was also part of the Traverse Young Writers Program 2021 and is currently in the process of writing and directing a short film as part of a mini-commission for Sanctuary Queer Arts Theatre Company which answers the prompt ‘What does Sanctuary mean to you?’.
Twitter: @priyanka_jha12