Sonya is a multidisciplinary performer, director and arts leader: when she's not traipsing about with MSC, she's running grass-roots projects, leading independent orgs and/or working within major institutions, most recently as a returning director for WAAPA and Hayes Theatre Co, and Artistic Associate of Melbourne Theatre Company and a Polyglot Generator artist.

Her performance credits run the gamut from Pinter to Puccini with a healthy dose of Shakespeare and new Australian writing in the mix. Sonya is the founder of award-winning Sondheim repertory company, Watch This, and shares Green Room Award nominations for Best Direction of Sunday in the Park with George with Dean Drieberg, and with Melanie Hillman for Production of the Year, Into the Woods. She has also received nominations for her work in MTC's Melbourne Talam, in Polyglot Theatre & Papermoon Puppet Theatre's international tour Cerita Anak, and multiple festival nominations for her fantasy adventure pilot, The Quest, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress award at Melbourne WebFest and Best Children’s Film award at Wild Indie SciFi & Fantasy Film Festival (London).

In 2023, Sonya received the ASAC Stellar Women award for Arts & Culture and was an APOC Community Champion finalist. Her and Vidya Makan's bold new musical The Lucky Country debuted the same year at Hayes Theatre Co; in 2025 she directed both Being Alive for Hayes and the sold-out Melbourne/ Brisbane tour of The Lucky Country, which scored an ARIA nomination for its original cast album release. www.sonyasuares.com