about

Naya is a writer of plays and films, actor and producer in New York City. As the child of an Indian immigrant father and Midwestern-raised mother, she was the only brown, pagan, weirdly-named vegetarian kid at Catholic school in a small Michigan hunting and farming town. Although it felt unique at the time, after seeing more of the world it became clear that this experience of isolation was way more common than she thought–what a relief! To that end, a primary focus of Naya’s work has always been to question what it means to belong, what it means to be other, and what it means to be an American, grappling especially with the topic of how we can help each other stay intact as human beings in the modern era.

Writing credits include the world premiere of Abdication! at Theater for the New City, also produced at Silver Spring Stage in Washington DC; Tipping Point produced by Naked Angels at the Kraine Theater; over a dozen original one-acts, and several short films.

Honors include:

• Finalist, 2024 Austin Film Festival Best Play for Tipping Point

• Nominee, 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for playwriting for Tipping Point

• Semifinalist, 2024 Rita and Burton Goldberg MFA Playwriting;

• Quarterfinalist, 2024 Creative Screenwriting Shoot your Short Screenwriting Prize for Girl on the Street

• Quarterfinalist 2023 Page International Screenwriting Awards for feature film The Human Weapon

• Best Sci-Fi Short, 2022 Southeast Regional Film Festival for short film Stuck

• Finalist, Best Play; Nominee, Best Actress 2020 Riant Festival NYC for one-act Firsts

  
  Check out the Press Page for where to next catch Naya’s work

  More info on Writing Work here

  And Acting Work here