Samina Luthfa

Samina Luthfa is an actress and playwright known in the theatre world by the name “Nitra.” A founding member of BotTala, she has written three stage plays—Tirthankar, Khona, and Bayen. She also co-translated William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with Asadul Islam. In addition, she adapted Shahaduz Zaman’s Crutcher Colonel and Shaheen Akhtar’s Sokhi Rongomala with Soumya Sarkar.

In English, she co-wrote Birangona with Lisa Gazi. She also wrote the street plays Jotugriho and Brikkho Sommelon ba Puro Oitihashik.

For more than 25 years, she has been working in theatre as an actor, choreographer, and costume designer with Subachan, BotTala, Jatrik, Goethe-Institut, Kamola Collective, and Dhaka Art Summit.

Professionally, she is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of Dhaka. Her research interests include environmental justice, feminism, political ecology, social movements, labor rights, and popular culture.

She was born on June 1, 1976, in Mymensingh, Bangladesh.