Sheetala Bhat
Assistant Professor
Office: Atkinson 640
Email: bsheetal@yorku.ca
Sheetala is a theatre researcher, artist, and playwright. She specializes in South Asian theatre and politics, South Asian diasporic theatre in Canada, and Indigenous theatre in Canada. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Research in Canada, and the Journal for the Fantastic in the Arts. She is the author of Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the Lives of Women Performers in Colonial India.
Sheetala is working on two book projects: a comparative study of cultural performances of love as anti-colonial resistance in India and in Indigenous theatre in Canada, and a new project on the interconnections between settler colonialism and performances of Hindu nationalism in Canada.
She is currently the co-convenor of the Performance and Migration working group at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), and at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR).
Degrees
PhD, Western UniversityMA, Manipal University, India
Research Interests
- Robert Lawrence Prize, Canadian Association for Theatre Research - 2022
- Helsinki Prize, International Federation for Theatre Research - 2020
- Carl F. and Margaret E. Klinck Prize, Western University - 2022
- David G. Hartwell Emerging Scholar Award, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - 2019
Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the lives of Women Performers in Colonial India, Manipal University Press, 2017.
“‘Restart the play’: On Cyclicality and the ‘Indian Woman’ in the Theatrical Future of C Sharp C Blunt.” Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms, edited by Grace Dillon, Isiah Lavender III, Taryne Jade Taylor, & Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Routledge, 2023, pp. 462-468.
“Hunting Down the Perceptual Logics of Whiteness: Indigenous Performance of Love Against and Beyond Settler Recognition in Vigil and The Unnatural and Accidental Women.” Australasian Drama Studies #85: Aroha atu, Aroha mai: Performing Love, Compassion, and Decolonisation, no. 85, 2024, 146-172.
"Making Home, Unmaking Domesticity: Love, Joy, and Other-than-Human Worlds in Kamloopa." Theatre Research in Canada, 44 (2), pp. 191-209.
Alvis, Cole, et al. “Radical Refusals and Indigenous Gifts of Love: A Conversation on Indigenous Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42, no. 1, 2021, pp. 100-119.
Bhat, Sheetala. “‘Did I Tell Your Story?’: Theatrics of Allyship across Caste and Religion in India.” Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, Vol. 35, no. 2, 2021, pp. 93-98.
Bhat, Sheetala. “Watching the (Re)calling of a Princess on Stage: On I Call myself Princess and Bearing Witness to Indigenous Histories through the Fantastic in Theatre.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp.47-60.
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2025 | AP/EN4140 3.0 | A | Contemporary Drama | ONLN |
| Summer 2025 | AP/EN2015 3.0 | M | What Does Race Have to Do With It? | ONLN |
Sheetala is a theatre researcher, artist, and playwright. She specializes in South Asian theatre and politics, South Asian diasporic theatre in Canada, and Indigenous theatre in Canada. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Research in Canada, and the Journal for the Fantastic in the Arts. She is the author of Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the Lives of Women Performers in Colonial India.
Sheetala is working on two book projects: a comparative study of cultural performances of love as anti-colonial resistance in India and in Indigenous theatre in Canada, and a new project on the interconnections between settler colonialism and performances of Hindu nationalism in Canada.
She is currently the co-convenor of the Performance and Migration working group at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), and at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR).
Degrees
PhD, Western UniversityMA, Manipal University, India
Research Interests
Awards
- Robert Lawrence Prize, Canadian Association for Theatre Research - 2022
- Helsinki Prize, International Federation for Theatre Research - 2020
- Carl F. and Margaret E. Klinck Prize, Western University - 2022
- David G. Hartwell Emerging Scholar Award, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - 2019
All Publications
“‘Restart the play’: On Cyclicality and the ‘Indian Woman’ in the Theatrical Future of C Sharp C Blunt.” Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms, edited by Grace Dillon, Isiah Lavender III, Taryne Jade Taylor, & Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Routledge, 2023, pp. 462-468.
Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the lives of Women Performers in Colonial India, Manipal University Press, 2017.
“Hunting Down the Perceptual Logics of Whiteness: Indigenous Performance of Love Against and Beyond Settler Recognition in Vigil and The Unnatural and Accidental Women.” Australasian Drama Studies #85: Aroha atu, Aroha mai: Performing Love, Compassion, and Decolonisation, no. 85, 2024, 146-172.
"Making Home, Unmaking Domesticity: Love, Joy, and Other-than-Human Worlds in Kamloopa." Theatre Research in Canada, 44 (2), pp. 191-209.
Alvis, Cole, et al. “Radical Refusals and Indigenous Gifts of Love: A Conversation on Indigenous Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42, no. 1, 2021, pp. 100-119.
Bhat, Sheetala. “‘Did I Tell Your Story?’: Theatrics of Allyship across Caste and Religion in India.” Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, Vol. 35, no. 2, 2021, pp. 93-98.
Bhat, Sheetala. “Watching the (Re)calling of a Princess on Stage: On I Call myself Princess and Bearing Witness to Indigenous Histories through the Fantastic in Theatre.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp.47-60.
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2025 | AP/EN4140 3.0 | A | Contemporary Drama | ONLN |
| Summer 2025 | AP/EN2015 3.0 | M | What Does Race Have to Do With It? | ONLN |
