Nautanki Theatre is a professional, diverse, and multi-racial theatre company. We began our journey at the grassroots level and have evolved as an Independent Theatre Company practising intercultural storytelling in partnership with Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, since the company's inception in 2012. With extensive research and experience with the community in Western Sydney, Nautanki Theatre’s affirmative action is to meet the authenticity, emphasising the South Asian experience. Nautanki Theatre’s artistic focus lies in storytelling that connects contemporary Australian society with the South Asian diaspora. In doing so, we create employment opportunities irrespective of caste, colour, sexual persuasion, or creed in creative ensembles for Australian theatre.

In the last 14 years, Nautanki Company has successfully presented ten live theatre performances and kick-started the annual South Asian Theatre Mela (Festival) in 2016. 

In 2026, we completed our first-ever regional tour to connect cultural content with the community in country towns. Nautanki’s project involved more than 250 actors, performers, crew, and support staff. More than 12,000 people attended our events. We reach out to more than 40,000 people based in Western Sydney every year through our various programs. In 2019, Riverside Theatre acknowledged Nautanki Theatre Company as its cultural presenting partner in the Western Sydney region.

We aim to produce creative opportunities with a true representation of contemporary Australia and provide equal access to everyone. Our objective is to work with the CaLD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) community, refugee or migrant people, facilitating social inclusion, and creating a voice to advocate for their cultural identity. We're working with the South-Asian migrant community to build a new audience that reflects the demography of Parramatta, Blacktown, the Hills District, and parts of the Inner City. We are encouraging this new CaLD audience to join with greater Australian theatregoers to attend and support live theatre in Western Sydney.

Nautanki is registered as a Charity with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission (ACNC) and has a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status.

Culture with courage. That is our slogan, and our promise.

Nautanki Theatre exist to bring South Asian creatives and their stories to the Australian stage. As bespoke artists, we are proud to champion our community’s voice.

This year, our impact speaks for itself:

Empowering Artists: Supporting 10 creatives through the Saray project to imagine their biggest dreams.
Nurturing Youth: Guiding 5 young creatives through the Spark project as they take their first steps into the arts.
Staging Stories: Delivered 2 seasons of Ten Years To Home, including 3 shows at Campbelltown Arts Centre and 2 shows at Cootamundra Arts Centre as part of Nautanki's regional tour.
Driving Mainstream Theatre: Presenting the premiere season of Orko in Parramatta this July 30 – August 1.
Uniting Community: Hosting Parra-Mela on October 2–3, Parramatta’s biggest South Asian arts gathering, expected to welcome over 2,000 people.
Creating New Work for stage: Commissioning 1 writer to write a play.
Giving Back: Committing more than 2,000 hours of in-kind creative support as an organisation.
 

Through your generous donation, Nautanki Company will be able to create new work, aiming for more opportunities for the creatives, actors, writers and community. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. We thank you in advance for your generous support.

For details, please visit: https://nautanki.org.au/donate/