2025 Scholarship Recipient: Aashna Rai

Aashna is a senior at Northwestern University from the city of Pune in India, majoring in Theatre and Cognitive Science. Dedicated to inclusion and accessibility in the arts, she is immensely grateful to the Sarah Siddons Society for this scholarship! Aashna has previously worked with Family Focus Evanston, District 65, Imagine U Productions, the Kennedy Center, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She has performed with the American Music Theatre Project, presented at the American Society for Theatre Research, and curated NU’s Inclusive Theatre Festival with Seesaw Theatre. Nowadays, she spends her time writing her honors thesis on theatre education, singing South Asian fusion acapella music with her friends, and constantly sending photos of everything she cooks to her parents back home in India.