She first stepped onto the stage at Dubai’s DUCTAC Theatre, once located in the Mall of the Emirates.
Dubai to New York: Anuka Sethi’s Quietly Radical Journey
From watching school productions at Dubai’s now-closed DUCTAC Theatre in the Mall of the Emirates to performing on one of New York’s most politically charged Off-Broadway stages, UAE-born Anuka Sethi has travelled a long and quietly radical road.
“I was a very shy kid who used to watch the plays that came to DUCTAC,” she recalls. “I grew up being afraid I could never do that. But experiencing those plays in Dubai was really fun — they made me realise that stories can move people and even change them.”
Her turning point came at the age of eight, she tells Gulf News over a Zoom call from New York City.
“One of my teachers made me play Mrs Claus in our Christmas concert. That was a really big moment for me — it completely changed my confidence.”
What began as a simple confidence exercise soon grew into a calling.
“As I got older and pursued more performance opportunities, I started to realize that this wasn’t just something I enjoyed for fun,” she says. “It’s something I truly believe I can dedicate my life to.”
By the age of 15, Anuka knew a conventional career path wasn’t for her.
“I decided I wanted to be an actor, and I went all in,” she says. “I asked myself, ‘What do I need to do to be successful?’ For me, success meant getting into one of the world’s top acting programs — New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.”
Anuka, who studied at Jumeirah English Speaking School in Arabian Ranches, achieved that goal.
“I spent all four years at college there,” Anuka recalls. “It was incredible, especially since I’d always been a shy kid. I never thought I’d stand a chance among those loud, confident theatre students — but somehow, I fit right in.”
From a Dubai Classroom to the New York Stage
Anuka credits her drama teachers at JESS Arabian Ranches for shaping her belief in herself.
“My drama teachers were amazing. They really encouraged me, noticed my interest, and kept sparking it,” she says.
Still, her journey wasn’t about early stardom. In school productions, she didn’t shine as a breakout star — but the experiences planted the seeds for the performer she would become.
“Let me be clear — I never got a main role in school,” Anuka admits. “Honestly, I didn’t even think I was that good. There were always kids who had been doing drama since they were little, and they always got the lead roles. I was very hesitant to even consider this as a career.”
Being South Asian didn’t make the path any easier. Ask any Indian parent, and they’ll tell you they want their kids to choose stable careers like medicine, engineering, IT, or accounting.
“There aren’t a lot of people like us who get to do this! But my parents were so supportive. They knew I liked science and psychology, but I wasn’t passionate about it.”
Why Dubai Prepared Her for New York
Now based in New York City, Anuka works across theatre, film, and television. She is currently performing in an adaptation of The Thousand and One Nights at the legendary La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club — a space renowned for launching boundary-breaking artists.
“It’s an adaptation done by a Lebanese-American director and writer,” Anuka explains. “The show includes Arabic, Hindi — I get to speak Hindi in it — Spanish, and Farsi. All the actors get to perform in their own languages alongside English.”
The production sold out all eight performances.
“People who saw it last year still talk about the show to this day. And now every single performance is sold out,” she adds.
For Anuka, this is the kind of work she always dreamed of — boundary-breaking, multilingual, and deeply resonant.
“It celebrates diversity… it’s very political. It’s a call to action. It honors the resistance of indigenous peoples against colonialism. We are blessed to be alive and to have the gift of telling stories,” Anuka reflects.
Her journey from Dubai to New York, she says, feels almost natural.
“Dubai and New York are so similar — both are cultural melting pots. I know what it’s like to be Indian, while the person next to me is French and the person over there is Arab. I understand how we can share culture, exchange ideas, and grow smarter and more well-rounded because of it.”
While Dubai may not yet have a Broadway-scale theatre ecosystem, Anuka believes its strength lies elsewhere.
“We don’t have these huge theatres… but what we do have is community theatre, and sometimes that’s even more important,” she says.
She remains optimistic. “Kids from all over the world live in Dubai. Everyone’s sharing culture all the time. Community theatre there has the potential to really thrive.”
On Not Wanting to Be the “Token Brown Person”
One of the hardest parts of her profession, she admits, is being boxed in by identity.
“People often try to push you into a box of what it means to be Indian or South Asian,” Anuka says. “I don’t like it. I don’t want to be part of things that force identity into something you constantly have to fight over.”
For her, trailblazers like Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra Jonas — some of India’s biggest cultural exports — have been a source of inspiration.
“It’s life-changing to see South Asian people on such huge platforms. But I truly believe Priyanka Chopra deserves better roles than what Hollywood tends to write for her,” she adds.
Representation, Anuka insists, must go deeper than visibility. “We need the freedom to be everything.”
Horror Films, Sisters, and Political Storytelling
Anuka recently completed a short film titled The Beasts We Carry. “It’s about a girl who can see people’s inner selves manifested outside of them… and then 9/11 happens, and suddenly everybody’s inner self turns into a demon,” she explains.
She calls it what it is: “Another political commentary on racism against brown people. And it’s a horror film too.”
In a quiet victory, the role was rewritten specifically for her.
“It was originally written for a boy,” she says. “But when I auditioned, the creative team liked me so much that they rewrote it to be a girl.”
Auditions are constant. “The more auditions you do, the more chances you have to succeed,” Anuka says.
What She Tells Parents in Dubai
Her parents, she adds, have always been her backbone.
“My parents were incredibly supportive — always my number one fans. I went to them and said, ‘I want to do this crazy thing. Maybe I’ll flop for the rest of my life, but I’ll love what I do.’ And they said yes.”
For Indian parents navigating unconventional paths, she offers simple advice:
“If this is what makes your kid happy, they need to do it. They have to do it.”
A Dubai Girl, a Global Stage
Today, Sethi works across theatre, film, and television. She serves as Artist in Residence at Live & In Color and is developing new work with Clubbed Thumb, all while staying deeply connected to her roots.
“I just want Dubai kids to know: you can do it. The world is big. Whether you stay in Dubai and build the artistic scene there, or move to the US, UK, or Germany, art is special.”
