Aanisa Vylet wrote and stars in Halal Gurls, the world's first hijabi comedy series. We chat to her about her experience making the show, some of her early influences and why authentic, intelligent representation matters.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aanisa Vylet is a fresh and exciting voice on Sydney stages. She’s also one of the few Prop Playwrights we’ve interviewed who writes and performs her own work. Aanisa’s play, “The Girl/The Woman” recently enjoyed a successful season at the National Theatre of Parramatta. The play is in two parts: The Girl part tells the story of a young Muslim woman of Lebanese heritage, who embarks on a journey into adulthood in Sydney, and later, London. The Woman part of the play sees the story return to Sydney, where the Woman’s mother is dealing not only with the difficulty of understanding her daughter’s decisions, but also the trauma of being diagnosed with cancer.
Aanisa weaves ideas and stories from her own life into her work, and in “The Girl/The Woman”, her performance was captivating, precise and thoughtful.