Artist in Residence at McMaster University’s School of Arts (2019/20), recipient of the City of Hamilton’s 2020 Arts Innovation Award and the 2016 Theatre Award, animal fanatic Radha Menon began performing in British theatre and television in her youth. Stateless until age seventeen, Menon emigrated to Regina, Saskatchewan in 1995 where her performance career abruptly ended, and her writing career began. Her plays, which have been produced at theatre festivals in Canada, the US, UK and India, include Blackberry, Sita’s Revenge, Ganga’s Ganja, Rukmini’s Gold, Rise of the Prickly Pear, The Circus & The Washing Machine. Red Beti Theatre (RBT), Hamilton’s first feminist IBPOC (Indigenous, Black and People of Colour) theatre company was founded by Radha in 2011. Supported by a Canada Council for the Arts Digital Now Grant, 5 of Radha’s plays were adapted and produced as podcasts in 2021 by RBT.
Winner of Toronto Fringe New Play Contest 2015, Hamilton Fringe Critics Choice Award 2015, 2020 Sanhita Manch National Playwriting Contest, Sultan Padamsee Playwriting contest 2020 & Herman Voaden Playwriting award 2021 Finalist, Rukmini’s Gold was published by Scirocco Press in 2022. In addition, Menon is a filmmaker and production designer for art house films, including Nayan & The Evil Eye, (Design Award, Here Be Dragons Int. Film Festival 2015) & Finalist of Cayle Chernin Media Award, magic realism short film, The Sail Tree. Radha is currently developing a suite of goddess plays, Devi Triptych. Menon holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. She is based in Hamilton and working on her first solo exhibition, Touched by Devi opening at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 2024.