Akanchha Karki

Akanchha Karki, is a Nepal-based theatre director, actor, and feminist arts practitioner whose work powerfully intersects gender justice, mental health, and social transformation. As the founder of Katha Ghera, Kathmandu’s pioneering women-led theatre collective and performance space, she has been instrumental in creating safer, collaborative artistic spaces for women and young creators in Nepal. Her theatre practice challenges patriarchal systems and amplifies stories often excluded from mainstream cultural narratives.

Karki is widely recognized for directing bold and socially engaged productions including the Nepali adaptations of The Vagina Monologues (Yonika Kathaharu), Private is Political, Animal Farm, and Play the System. Through these works, she has explored themes of sexism, caste discrimination, bodily autonomy, workplace inequality, and the emotional realities of women’s lives in South Asia.

With a background in counseling psychology, her creative process is deeply trauma-informed, empathetic, and community-centered.

In recent years, Karki has expanded into filmmaking. Her award-winning debut short film Sanai, supported by the British Council Gender Film Grant, explores caste and gender oppression through the friendship of two young girls in rural Nepal.