Radhika Rao

Radhika Rao with playwright Krista Knight during Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s 2026 Summer Intensive Program, where Rao directed the world premiere of Knight’s Heroes’ Journey. The comedy is a meta-narrative about classical story structure: when the expected Hero does not appear, the Greek Chorus becomes the Hero instead. The play explores the idea that everyone can be a hero and protagonist of their own story. The project reflects Rao’s work as a director and teaching artist, particularly her commitment to youth theater, arts education, collaboration, and creative expression.

Radhika Rao appears as Clare Reynolds in the 2023 world premiere of Before the Sword at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco, directed by Ed Decker. The play is a coming-of-age drama set in a post-WWI British village and imagines the real-life inspirations behind T.H. White’s fantasy novel The Sword in the Stone. Centered on a troubled teenage boy and his relationship with the eccentric author Tim White, the story explores trauma, outsider identity, secrecy, queer desire, and the transformation of pain into art. Rao’s character, Clare Reynolds, is the vibrant vicar’s wife whose relationship with Freddie’s mother, Hannah, helps reveal the play’s themes of repressed desire and self-discovery.

Radhika Rao appears in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s 2014 production of Cock, written by Mike Bartlett and directed by Stephen Rupsch. The play centers on John, a man in a long-term relationship with another man who unexpectedly falls in love with a woman, forcing him to confront questions of sexuality, identity, desire, and the limits of labels. Known for its stripped-down staging and emotionally charged dialogue, Cock examines how people define themselves and each other within intimate relationships. Rao’s appearance in the production reflects her broader work across contemporary Bay Area theater and her connection to NCTC, one of the first Bay Area theaters to give her performance and teaching opportunities.

Radhika Rao appears with Kuch Kuch Bollywood, a Bay Area improv ensemble that brings Bollywood-inspired performance styles, humor, music, and cultural references into improvised theater. Rao is a member of the ensemble and has described this work as part of her broader improv practice, including her interest in how Bollywood sensibility can shape improvisation and live performance.

Radhika Rao performs as Lady Macbeth opposite Teddy Spencer in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, produced by Arabian Shakespeare Festival and directed by Terri McMahon in 2016. This role reflects Rao’s sustained engagement with Shakespeare and classical theater, a major part of her work as an actor in the Bay Area and beyond.

Radhika Rao performs as Guildenstern in San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s production of Hamlet. Rao has described San Francisco Shakespeare Festival as an important part of her Bay Area theater journey, offering opportunities to perform, teach, and work with classical theater in expansive ways. Her Shakespeare work reflects her interest in language, adaptation, and nontraditional casting.

Radhika Rao performs as B in Shotgun Players’ production of The Claim. The play examines immigration, asylum, and the power dynamics of official interview processes. Rao’s role in the production reflects her broader theater practice, which often connects performance with communication, empathy, and the ethical stakes of how people listen to and respond to one another.

Radhika Rao performs as Timon in a preview of American Conservatory Theater’s educational touring production of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens at the Theater Bay Area conference in November 2025. In this scene, Timon gets back at the creditors who have been hounding her. Directed by Peter J. Kuo, the production reflects Rao’s broader practice of using theater to spark dialogue around human behavior, trust, generosity, betrayal, and ethical choice.

Radhika Rao appears in Cutting Ball Theater’s 2018 production of Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare. Rao’s Shakespeare work is a major part of her artistic practice, connecting classical theater with contemporary questions of identity, communication, and human behavior. In interview, Rao described Shakespeare as one of the theatrical forms that has allowed her to perform beyond narrowly defined ethnic roles while also bringing her full identity into the work.

This poster documents American Conservatory Theater’s 2025 educational tour of Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare, featuring Radhika Rao in the title role. Rao described the production as especially meaningful because the play was brought to high school audiences and used to open conversations about friendship, betrayal, generosity, money, and responsibility. Her work in the production reflects her broader practice of using theater as a tool for dialogue, education, and communication.

Radhika Rao is a multilingual theater and improv artist, teaching artist, organizational communications coach, and community facilitator based in San Francisco. Her work moves across scripted performance, Shakespeare, improvisation, education, and communication training. Rao describes her mission as using theater to facilitate dialogue, help people become better communicators, and create more peaceful ways of relating to one another. Born and raised in India, Rao began doing theater more fully while studying at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and later pursued graduate work in theater and education in the United States. Since moving to the Bay Area, she has found a vibrant theater ecosystem where she could perform beyond narrowly defined ethnic roles, especially through Shakespeare, improv, and nontraditional casting. Her Bay Area work includes collaborations with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, New Conservatory Theatre Center, American Conservatory Theater, Leela Improv, EnActe Arts, and Farah Yasmeen Shaikh/Noorani Dance. Rao’s practice is rooted in the belief that theater is not only performance, but a way of building voice, confidence, empathy, and connection. She has used theater and improvisation in schools, medical and nursing education, police training, legal and workplace communication, anti-bullying programs, environmental education, and community-based dialogue. As an artist of South Asian origin working across both South Asian and broader Bay Area theater spaces, Rao brings a perspective shaped by Indian mythology, multilingual performance, Shakespeare, improvisation, and the experience of often being the only South Asian artist in a room. Her work expands the story of South Asian theater in the Bay Area by showing how South Asian theater practitioners also contribute across mainstream, educational, community, and experimental performance contexts.