Sukanya Umesh

Sukanya, or Suki as she likes to go by, is a multifaceted storyteller and creative professional based in Chennai with nearly 15 years of experience in live performance. In 2014 she debuted as a playwright and theatre director in the Wildcard round of the Short and Sweet Theatre Festival’s Chennai chapter and won the Best Director award for her play on colourism called Ideal Image. Under her personal brand Suki Kooky, she hosts storytelling events, leads workshops, and creates vibrant digital content. As a freelance theatre artiste with Evam’s Training Sideways, she writes, directs, and performs plays that champion diversity and inclusion in the corporate world. She also works as a life skills trainer with Miyagi Learning and runs a reading program at Alagar Public School in Thoothukudi, nurturing a love for stories among children and infecting them with a passion for curiosity. In 2019 she made a childhood dream come true by being credited as an author in a children’s book called “Lola and Chacko”. Most recently, she was part of the Inko Centre’s 6 year long immersive storytelling exhibition by Parvathi Nayar and directed by Yog Japee called the Limits of Change, as one of the lead storytellers of the show.

Beyond her professional life, Suki is a hobby painter, karaoke singer, and halfway decent badminton player. Be warned though, she loves dogs and will hound you for pictures. She is currently working on a host of exciting new immersive storytelling experiences and has recently been accepted to Europeana Pro’s Online Digital Storytelling Festival’s Creative Residency, organised by the Europeana Foundation in The Hague, Netherlands.