Nisha Madhan

Career As an actor Madhan has appeared in New Zealand television shows including the comedy / drama series Rude Awakenings (2006). She was the first Indian actress to take a key role in the cast of this popular series. There was a strong reaction from followers of Shortland Street when the character played by Madhan died, and some said that it would lead to the end of the show.

Since 2002, she has acted in numerous theatre productions mostly in Auckland including as Blitzen in The Reindeer Monologues directed by Cameron Rhodes at the Herald Theatre in the Aotea Centre. She teamed up creatively with experimental artist Stephen Bain co-creating Beckett Says (2010) and What Have You Done to Me? (2011) which toured to Finland. In 2015, Madhan had three roles in the Indian Ink Theatre Company production, The Elephant Thief. In 2018 Madhan directed Julia Croft in the play Power Ballad that toured New Zealand, Australia and parts of the United Kingdom.

As a theatre maker and director Madhan was the co-creator and director of the award-winning Working On My Night Moves at Auckland's Basement Theatre in 2019. In 2020 Madham was commissioned by arts and culture journal Pantograph Punch to produce a podcast. Also in 2020 Madham obtained a role in the New Zealand webseries Life is Easy. As at June 2021, Madhan is the Programmer at The Basement Theatre in Auckland working alongside Cat Ruka. She said of programming HEtheyShe by non-binary BIPOC (Māori/Samoan) poet Cypris Afakasi and Arts Laureate Moe Laga:“I’m a strong believer that artists do an important and specific job. They process the world around them in real-time and space through intention and action." Nisha Madham Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards, 2017 – Discovery Award (shared with Julia Croft) Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2019 – Working On My Night Moves TOTAL theatre award (Director) Auckland Theatre Awards, 2020 – Working On My Night Moves Excellence Award for Overall Production (Director)