Thea Jade is an emerging playwright and arts worker hailing from Ngunnawal Land, Canberra. Diagnosed with Autism at age nine, her work is shaped by her perspective as a disabled and neurodivergent young woman. Grounded in lived experience, her writing strives to champion the voices of young people and strengthen community through collaboration, developed in close partnership with the communities whose stories she tells.

Thea is currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing at NIDA, where she is the recipient of the Prime Video Scholarship. Her debut play HOW THESE THINGS GO has been shortlisted for multiple awards, including The Griffin Award, The Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award, and most recently was Runner Up of the Australian Theatre Festival NYC New Play Award. In 2025, she developed her new work manic pixie meltdown with a group of autistic young people with lived experience as women, culminating in a sold-out development season at Shopfront Arts Co-Op.

Alongside her playwriting, Thea has worked extensively as a performing arts educator and facilitator. Her dedication to youth arts and engagement is apparent with her long history of work as a core team member of Canberra Youth Theatre, as well as The Youth Coalition of the ACT and NSW Youth Action. After relocating to Sydney in 2023 she worked in the marketing, publicity and client management teams at Michael Cassel Group, contributing to the national and international tours of major commercial productions including Hamilton, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.