About

DHINESHA KARTHIGESU (He/They) is a multi-disciplinary storyteller, theatre maker and coach. As a Malaysian Indian artist of Tamil and Malayalee descent, his work currently explores queerness, migration, masculinity and identity. Dhinesha and his work has been featured at schools, universities, festivals and on platforms like Arts Equator, HowlRound Theatre Commons, Vice India and Vice Asia. He has also been on multiple podcasts and BFM radio segments. 

In 2021, his theatre play RAVAYANA beat a thousand other global entries to be selected as part of a play development programme run by the New York theatre collective The Playwrights Realm. In 2023, his devised theatre production They All Die At The End (TADATE) premiered in KL and featured an all Indian male ensemble, emerging as one of CloudJoi’s Top 10 Bestselling Shows of 2023. TADATE was also chosen to be part of the Georgetown Festival 2024 and premiered in Penang in July. 

Dhinesha is one of the co founders of the Tulis Group, a playwright focused Malaysian theatre collective and also one of the co founders of 100DP, a writing workshop series focused on generative feedback structures. He is also an alumni of Theatresauce's Emerging Directors Lab of 2020-2022 and is currently a Fellow in Singapore for T:> Works’s Artistic Directors Academy from 2024-2025. 

At the end of 2023, Dhinesha became the newly appointed Artistic Director for Theatresauce, a KL based theatre company focused on telling edgy, urban Malaysian stories. Under his leadership, the company will now further focus on championing minority and underrepresented Malaysian stories. 

His professional certifications include being a HRDC Certified Trainer, a Certified Corporate Trainer (GD Training and Consultancy Services) and a Certified Integrative Nutrition Coach (Institute of Integrative Nutrition, New York)

Dhinesha has been training and facilitating since 2010 and has held multiple roles over the years. His last engagement was that of Senior Learning & Growth Partner at Leaderonomics. In that role, he worked with corporate clients to ideate, design and deliver personal development programs across all levels. Key clients included Maxis, Sime Darby Plantation and New Britain Palm Oil Limited (Papua New Guinea)

With over 13 years of experience, Dhinesha has facilitated in the areas of Business Development, Personal Development, Strategic & Leadership Alignment, Team Building, Productivity, Peer to Peer Coaching and Creative Writing. Personal recurring clients include University Putra Malaysia, UNISEL and Sunway International Schools.

As a creative coach, Dhinesha has a proven track record of guiding clients to reach their goals. His practice involves working with clients to imagine, execute and complete creative projects. To date, Dhinesha has worked with clients from Kuala Lumpur, New York City, Melbourne and Mumbai.