Playwright & Lawyer
Sonal is a lawyer by day and a writer by night, and she knows which she prefers. Writing short plays since 2004, Sonal has had her work produced in theatre festivals around Australia, and internationally in the USA, India, Dubai and France, building a body of contemporary drama shaped by storytelling, culture and identity.
Sonal’s exploration of what it means to grow up in Australia as an Australian-born girl of Indian heritage started with her short play “White Weddings” and continued with “Eye of the Storm.” In 2023, her one-act play Mangalsutra looked at marriage across three generations of Gujarati women, focusing on the weddings of Mira, the first generation of her family born in Australia, and her daughter, Asha. It’s a story of cultural identity and the diaspora experience, passed from mother to daughter.
Sonal’s parents are from Gujarat, India. Her father was sent to Australia in 1959 for business, and after ten years, her parents decided to stay. Sonal was born in Melbourne. “Ten Years to Home,” which premiered with Nautanki Theatre in 2019, is an exploration of Sonal’s parents’ story, set against the political climate of Australia and India in the 1960s and the richness of the two cultures in which her family lives today. Across her work, Sonal brings a distinct voice to conversations about multicultural identity, community engagement and cultural awareness on the Australian stage.
She is a valued part of Nautanki’s creative team.
Full Production History
- Ten Years to Home: Nautanki Theatre, 2026
- Ten Years to Home: Nautanki Theatre, 2024
- Mangalsutra: Adakar Theatre, 2023
- Ten Years to Home: Nautanki Theatre, 2019
- Eye of the Storm: Short + Sweet Festival, 2019 (Nautanki Theatre)
- The Secret of Me: Short + Sweet Festival, 2017 (Top 80, Director’s Choice finalist)
- Date Night: Short + Sweet Festival, 2016
- It’s All About the Birds: Short + Sweet Festival, 2014
- The Particle Collider: Short + Sweet Festival, 2013
- The Shadows Within: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2005 (first moved reading); Short & Sweet Festival, Delhi, 2010 (winner); Short & Sweet Festival, Melbourne, 2010; Short & Sweet Festival, Bangalore, 2012; Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2012 (Top 120, People’s Choice finalist); Short & Sweet Festival, Dubai, 2013; Armidale Shorts (adapted into a short film, highly commended at Dungog Short Film Festival, 2012)
- East to the Ocean: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2011
- Black Water: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2010
- The Brothers Grey: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2010 (Wildcards finalist)
- The Borrower, the Butler, the Banker and the Bastard: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2009
- White Wedding: Brand Spanking New, 2009
- Reverse (one act play): Short & Sweet One Act Festival, 2008
- The Perfect Batch: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2008
- A Time for Everything: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2007; Shorts 2008, Camino Real, USA
- The $1,000 Dilemma: Short & Sweet Festival, Sydney, 2006
