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. She is currently working on a manuscript on theatrical performances of love as anti-colonial feminist resistance in India and in Indigenous theatre on Turtle Island. Her next project will be a comparative study of Indigenous and Adivasi theatre productions about criminalization of Indigenous peoples and prison abolition on Turtle Island and India. 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.
Prior to her appointment at York, she was an Arts Without Borders Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa. She has also worked in professional, community, and protest theatre in the state of Karnataka in India.
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.
"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.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN2014 3.0 | M | What Was Race? | SEMR |
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN3255 3.0 | M | Indigenous Drama in Canada | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | AP/EN4140 3.0 | A | Contemporary Drama | 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. She is currently working on a manuscript on theatrical performances of love as anti-colonial feminist resistance in India and in Indigenous theatre on Turtle Island. Her next project will be a comparative study of Indigenous and Adivasi theatre productions about criminalization of Indigenous peoples and prison abolition on Turtle Island and India. 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.
Prior to her appointment at York, she was an Arts Without Borders Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa. She has also worked in professional, community, and protest theatre in the state of Karnataka in India.
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.
"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.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN2014 3.0 | M | What Was Race? | SEMR |
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN3255 3.0 | M | Indigenous Drama in Canada | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | AP/EN4140 3.0 | A | Contemporary Drama | ONLN |
