Ankita Singh
I believe if you want to change people's minds, you have to touch their hearts. This is why the current focus of my work is making stories that are fun and accessible to a wide audience through humor and action while still containing important messages and themes.
- Locations
- Auckland
Bio
Ankita Singh is a writer, documentary director and award-winning theatre producer raised between Chandigarh and Kirikiriroa. She can trace her ancestry to the Himalayan hill station of Ranikhet, Aligarh and pre-partition Lahore in Punjab.
Not long after completing her Master's in Screenwriting from AUT University, Ankita won the 2021 Piki Pitch. With a firm grasp for storytelling, Ankita has had a recent streak of successfully funded projects including being one of six teams creating a half-hour episode for TVNZ’s Motherhood Anthology and receiving a Seed grant in 2022 to develop her supernatural romantic-comedy feature film.
Ankita made history as the first South Asian female playwright to be commissioned by Auckland Theatre Company, NZ's largest and most established theatre company. Her debut action-comedy play 'Basmati Bitch' premiered at Q Rangatira - the season was extended twice due to popular demand.
She is currently developing her series with Piki Films and working on her next play - a horror magic-realist play 'RABID' through the Rocket Park Writers Lab.
As a producer, Ankita specialises in discovering, developing and showcasing Pan-Asian and BIPOC creative talent in Aotearoa through her company Oriental Maidens.
Notable works include co-producing 'Scenes From A Yellow Peril' with SquareSums&Co and Auckland Theatre Company, 'Nathan Joe: Homecoming Poems' (Toronto Queer Film Festival, 2022), 'I am Rachel Chu' (“Auckland Live: Free Your Mind” and “Best Newcomer (Ensemble)” award, 2019), '800 Lunches' (Someday Stories, 2019) and 'First World Problems' (2018, 2019).
Oriental Maidens recently became a self-funded publisher, publishing the script of 'Scenes From a Yellow Peril' by Nathan Joe, adding this critical work to the Kiwi-Asian theatre canon.
In 2020, Ankita received the "Outstanding Newcomer Award" at the Auckland Theatre Awards for her contribution to the local theatre industry.
Experience
| Year | Production | Role | Company / Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | GIVE ME BABIES | Co-Creator & Writer | TVNZ |
| 2023 | BASMATI BITCH | Playwright | ATC - Auckland Theatre Company |
| 2023 | Nathan Joe: Homecoming Poems | Co-Producer | Going West Productions |
| 2022 | The Hustle | Producer & Post Director | Network Three & Discovery NZ |
| 2022 | Scenes From A Yellow Peril | Co-Producer | ATC - Auckland Theatre Company |
| 2022 | Arranged Season 3 | Researcher | Network Three & Discovery NZ |
| 2022 | Black Creatives Aotearoa Playwrights Lab | Producing Mentor | BCA |
| 2019 | First World Problems 2.0 | Producer | Basement Theatre |
| 2019 | 800 Lunches | Producer | Day One Shorts (Formerly Someday Stories) |
| 2019 | I am Rachel Chu | Producer | Auckland Fringe |
| 2019 | Woman of Citrus | Producer | Basement Theatre |
| 2019 | Chromacon Indie Arts Festival | Assistant Producer | Chromacon |
| 2018-2019 | Short+Sweet Auckland | Assistant Producer | SquareSums&Co |
| 2018 | First World Problems | Producer | Basement Theatre |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2020 | Master of Creative Writing - Specialising in Screenwriting | TRAINING | AUT University, Andrew Bancroft |
| 2019 | Communications Intern, Producing | INTERN & TRAINING | CJ Culture Foundations, South Korea |
| 2018 | Marketing Intern, Show Assistant & Producing | INTERN & TRAINING | Indian Ink, Jacob Rajan & Justin Lewis |