Ahi Karunaharan

Ahilan (Ahi) Karunaharan is Prayas Theatre’s Artistic Director, and one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most accomplished South Asian theatre-makers. He is a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate — the country’s most prestigious recognition of outstanding artistic achievement.

Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Sri Lanka and New Zealand, Ahi’s family moved to Wellington in 1990, displaced by the Sri Lankan Civil War. He is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School (Bachelor of Performing Arts, Acting, 2007).

Ahi is a writer, director, actor, and producer. He founded Agaram Productions, which curated and produced the first South Asian Writers Festival in New Zealand. His writing credits include The Mourning After — the first full-length Sri Lankan play in New Zealand — and Tea, which premiered at the Auckland Arts Festival 2018 and won Best Overall Production at the Auckland Theatre Awards. My Heart Goes Thadak Thadak, commissioned by Silo Theatre, was described as a collision of East and West set in 1970s Bombay. He has also directed Othello and Romeo and Jules for Ugly Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Should Woulda Coulda for Auckland Theatre Company.

His awards include the Bruce Mason Playwright Award (2018), an Excellence in Arts Leadership Award (2019), the New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate Award (2020), and multiple Auckland Theatre Awards. His work on dramaturgy has been published in Critical Stages / Scènes critiques, the journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics.

At Prayas, Ahi has been a member since 2011. He directed A Fine Balance for Prayas and Auckland Theatre Company — one of Prayas’s most high-profile co-productions — and devised and directed Swabhoomi: Borrowed Earth, drawing on the lived experiences of South Asian migrants in Aotearoa. He served as Production Mentor and Manager for The Clay Cart (Mricchakatika), produced YĀTRĀ, co-directed Rudali with Nona Shedde, and was Executive Producer for the First World Problems series alongside Amit Ohdedar.

Ahi bridges professional and community theatre, ensuring Prayas productions meet industry standards while remaining accessible to emerging artists. He is also a dedicated mentor, having worked with Proudly Asian Theatre’s Fresh Off the Page series and the Film Commission’s New Asian Writers initiative.