ABOUT

The World Is My Stage

Mahnaz Damania, born and brought up in India, was raised in the historical city of Ahmedabad. The creative and experimental bent in her personality runs through her family for generations.

From school to college, she participated and won accolades in cultural festivals and sports events while also instructing at the Spin Academy of Dance. After pursuing a three year career as an International Flight Attendant, she decided to return to her passion, namely, the performing arts.

This led her to the Stella Adler Studio (New York), where she trained in the craft of stage and camera acting. Three years in New York gave her the opportunity to study and perform in shorts, feature films and off Broadway plays. Soon after, she landed a Supporting Lead part in the Bollywood feature, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and moved to Mumbai. More doors opened from there to television series, short films, TVCs and online virals, among other media.

Her career actively extended across the theater circuit in India from 2015 to 2018. She has trained and performed extensively with Faezeh Jalali, founder of FATS TheArts (India), in devised story telling - blending traditional and contemporary forms seamlessly. A collaborator at heart, Mahnaz has been part of two Award Winning Ensembles for the plays 07/07/07 and Shikhandi - The Story Of The In-betweens - the latter earning her a nomination for Best Female (Lead) at the Mahindra Excellence in Theater Awards 2017, and for Broadway World Awards (International Play Category - Best Female Lead) in 2018 as well.

She worked on Class Act - a young playwrights workshop with Traverse Theatre (Edinburgh) and RAGE Productions (India), commissioned by the British Council as part of the India/UK Year of Culture in January 2017. She helped develop the ideas of budding playwrights - still in school - under the guidance of some of her own theater mentors in Mumbai while learning more about the process with the team from Traverse. Every opportunity for devising work, she took - which led her in 2016, to a workshop based development on Jatinga by Purva Naresh (presented by Bakehouse Theatre Company, Sydney) under the guidance of Suzanne Millar. She has also performed in the world of corporate theater with Roshan Abbas's Encompass Events in Mumbai.

Being a Parsi from the state of Gujarat, she has worked in the regional space as well - doing sketch comedy for the YouTube channel Untypical.

Engaging with encounters that blur barriers, dare to ignite conversation and educate through the arts, stand at the core of Mahnaz's performance philosophy.