Priyanka Shetty
Playwright & Actor
Priyanka Shetty (she/her) is an award-winning actor, playwright, and director based in Philadelphia. As a creator of original works, Priyanka is focused on making art that is a reflection of our times. With humor, insight, and raw energy, her plays pose critical questions about contemporary issues, engender dialogue, and call for solidarity and collective action. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show The Elephant in the Room has toured extensively across the U.S. and internationally, with performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Yale Schwarzman Center, and the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe which led to a subsequent tour across Scotland. Priyanka recently premiered her second solo show, #CHARLOTTESVILLE, at The Keegan Theatre in Washington, D.C. The production went on to achieve a completely sold-out run at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where she received the prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award for Outstanding New Writing. The production continues to expand globally under the helm of Olivier, Tony, and Emmy Award-winning Richard Jordan Productions. Priyanka's work has been featured on BBC Radio’s Front Row, The Guardian, The Scotsman, The Washington Post, TimeOut, Vogue, and The New York Times. She has been commissioned by The Keegan Theatre and awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant to create The Wall, the third and final play in her Triptych of Solos. Priyanka is an alumna of the prestigious Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. She has served on the jury of Open Screenplay's MFilm Lab in Canada and as a mentor for emerging screenwriters of South Asian descent, and most recently on the jury for the Atlanta Indian Film Festival. Priyanka earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Virginia and has served on the faculty of the University of Virginia’s Department of Drama. PriyankaShetty.com
Previously at Azuka:
The Elephant in the Room - Carroll County Fix