Jane Cafarella is an Australian playwright and former journalist whose plays have been produced nationally and internationally to critical acclaim.

She was writing serious plays until she moved to Singapore in 2012 and decided to take up the ukulele so she could play along with her husband, Rob, who is an excellent guitarist.

Like Karla, Jane started learning on YouTube.  Like Karla she eventually joined a club. And like Karla she fell in love with the ukulele – so much so she was inspired to write a play about it.

Uked! played to sell-out seasons in regional Victoria in 2019, premiered in New Zealand in 2024, and will premiere at Sydney’s Bondi Theatre in June 2026.

Before turning to playwriting, Jane was best known as a journalist, cartoonist and columnist for The Age, in Melbourne, Victoria, and a journalism teacher for News Ltd.

Her first full-length play e-baby, about surrogacy, was inspired by her journalism, and premiered in Melbourne in 2015. e-baby has since been produced in Sydney, Hobart, the UK and the US.

Her monologues for older female actors, and her short plays are available free from her website, and have been performed in more than 200 locations around the world so far.  https://janecafarella.com.au/

Jane’s memoir CLEAVED – A story of loss, legs, and finding family, was published in 2024. Jane strongly believes in the transformative power of theatre and enjoys writing plays that make people think, laugh and cry.