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{{Short description|Indian actress}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sabitri Heisnam
| image = Image:Pebet.jpg
| imagesize = 220px
| caption = From the play, ''Pebet''
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1946|01|05|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mayang Imphal]], [[Manipur]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = [[Stage actor]]
| yearsactive = Since 1950s
| known for = Manipuri theatre
| spouse = [[Heisnam Kanhailal]]
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents =
| website =
| awards = [[Padma Shri]] [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] Manipur State Kala Akademi Award Cairo International Festival Critics' Award Nandikar Award Natya Ratna
}}
'''Sabitri Heisnam''' is an Indian stage actor and one of the notable theatre personalities in Manipuri theatre.<ref name="The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre">{{cite book | url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001/acref-9780195644463-e-0572 | title=The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre | publisher=Oxford University Press | author=Ananda Lal | year=2011 | isbn=9780195644463}}</ref> She has also acted in the critically acclaimed short film, ''Scribbles on Akka'' (2000),<ref name="Profile on IMDB">{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7483829/ | title=Profile on IMDB | publisher=IMDB | date=2016 | access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref> directed by [[Madhusree Dutta]], which won the IDPA Award, best script award at [[Shanghai International Film Festival]] and the [[National Film Awards|National Film Award]] for Best Anthropological Film.<ref name="Scribbles on Akka [2000]">{{cite web | url=http://majlisbombay.org/scribbles-on-akka-2000/ | title=Scribbles on Akka [2000] | publisher=Majlis | date=2016 | access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref> She is a recipient of the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] of 1991.<ref name="Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Awards)">{{cite web | url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm#OtherMajorTraditionsofDanceandDanceTheatre | title=Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Awards) | publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi | date=2016 | access-date=22 January 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331060603/http://www.sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm#OtherMajorTraditionsofDanceandDanceTheatre | archive-date=31 March 2016 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]], in 2008, for her contributions to Manipuri theatre.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2016 | access-date=3 January 2016 | archive-date=15 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Biography ==
Heisnam Sabitri was born on 5 January 1946 in a [[Meitei people|Meitei family]] in the periphery of [[Mayang Imphal]] in the northeast Indian state of [[Manipur]].<ref name="The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre" /> Gouramani Devi, her aunt and a known stage actor, trained Sabitri from a young age and introduced her to theatre as a child artist, the lead role in ''Nimai Sanyas'' as 'Nimai' and as 'Queen Chintamani' in ''Shri Vasta-Chintamani'' were two of her notable early performances.<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri (Padmashree Awardee in 2007)">{{cite web | url=http://www.e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=features.profile_of_manipuri_personalities.donny_luwang.heisnam_sabitri_theatre | title=Heisnam Sabitri (Padmashree Awardee in 2007) | publisher=E Pao | date=11 August 2009 | access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref> Her career took a turn with her performance in ''Layeng Ahanba'' (first treatment), directed by [[Heisnam Kanhailal]] in 1961, and she married Kanhailal the next year; she was also a part of the group led by him who would found ''Kalakshetra Manipur'' in 1969.<ref name="Heisnam Kanhailal (PADMASHREE AWARDEE IN 2003)">{{cite web | url=http://www.e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=features.Profile_of_Manipuri_Personalities.Donny_Luwang.Heisnam_Kanhailal_Theatre | title=Heisnam Kanhailal (PADMASHREE AWARDEE IN 2003) | publisher=E Pao | date=27 July 2009 | access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref>

Heisnam Sabitri has made many notable performances on various stages in India and abroad, including Japan and Egypt;<ref name="Pure art form in garb of modern theatre">{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1031106/asp/guwahati/story_2538225.asp | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518235918/http://telegraphindia.com/1031106/asp/guwahati/story_2538225.asp | url-status=dead | archive-date=18 May 2006 | title=Pure art form in garb of modern theatre | publisher=The Telegraph | date=6 November 2003 | access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref> 'Ekhoulangbi' in ''Ekhoulangbi'' (1970), 'widow mother' in ''Tamnalai'' (1972), 'old woman' in ''Kabui Keioiba'' (1973), 'mother pebet' in ''Pebet'' (1975), 'tribal woman' in ''Laigi Machasinga'' (1978), 'Mi' in ''Memoirs of Africa'' (1985), 'Thambam' in ''Migi Sharang'' (1990) and 'Radha' in ''Karna'' (1997) are some of her major productions under Kalakshetra.<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri (Padmashree Awardee in 2007)" /> Her portrayal of Draupadi, in the drama of the same name based on a short story by [[Mahasweta Devi]], made news as the final moments of the play saw her dropping her clothes one by one and stripping naked on stage.<ref name="Written on the body">{{cite web | url=http://infochangeindia.org/agenda/claiming-sexual-rights-in-india/written-on-the-body.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517224604/http://infochangeindia.org/agenda/claiming-sexual-rights-in-india/written-on-the-body.html | url-status=usurped | archive-date=17 May 2011 | title=Written on the body | publisher=Infochange | date=February 2006 | access-date=23 January 2016 | author=Trina Nileena Banerjee}}</ref> After its first two stagings on 14 April and 20 April in the year 2000, the performance evoked public protest for deemed obscenity,<ref name="Shame and honour at play in violent realities">{{cite web | url=http://www.sunday-guardian.com/artbeat/shame-and-honour-at-play-in-violent-realities | title=Shame and honour at play in violent realities | publisher=The Sunday Guardian | date=22 March 2014 | access-date=23 January 2016 | archive-date=29 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129221106/http://www.sunday-guardian.com/artbeat/shame-and-honour-at-play-in-violent-realities | url-status=dead }}</ref> but is known to have inspired a group of twelve women to stage a protest by parading naked in front of Army personnel in 2004 who were alleged to have raped and killed a woman.<ref name="The Loss of Wor(l)ds: Theatre in Manipur and Heisnam Kanhailal">{{cite journal | url=http://humanitiesunderground.org/the-loss-of-worlds-theatre-in-manipur-and-heisnam-kanhailal/ | title=The Loss of Wor(l)ds: Theatre in Manipur and Heisnam Kanhailal | author=Trina Nileena Banerjee | journal=Humanities Underground | date=December 2013}}</ref> The role of a young boy, enacted by her while she was in her sixties, in ''Dakghor'', a drama based on one of [[Rabindranath Tagore]]'s short stories, was another performance which drew critical acclaim.<ref name="Politics Of Indigenous Theatre">{{cite web | url=http://www.nelive.in/north-east/art-culture/politics-indigenous-theatre | title=Politics Of Indigenous Theatre | publisher=NE Live | date=1 July 2015 | access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref>

Sabitri, a former government nominated member of the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]],<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri">{{cite web | url=http://kalakshetramanipur.org/index.php/home/heisnam-sabitri/ | title=Heisnam Sabitri | publisher=Kalakshetra | date=2016 | access-date=23 January 2016 | archive-date=31 August 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831154622/http://kalakshetramanipur.org/index.php/home/heisnam-sabitri/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> also acted in ''Mahadevi Akka'', a short film of 60 minutes duration directed by [[Madhusree Dutta]] in 1999, where she acted as the title character and the film won the [[National Film Awards|National Film Award]] for the best anthropological film as well as IDPA Award of the Indian Documentary Producers' Association and the award for the best screenplay at the [[Shanghai International Film Festival]].<ref name="Scribbles on Akka [2000]" /> [[Nemi Chandra Jain]], a renowned theatre personality, has documented the career of Sabitri Heisnam in his book, ''From the Wings, Notes on Indian Theatre'',<ref name="From the Wings, Notes on Indian Theatre">{{cite book | url=http://www.shimply.com/books/from-the-wings-notes-on-indian-theatre-p33828257 | title=From the Wings, Notes on Indian Theatre | publisher=National School of Drama | author=Nemichandra Jain | year=2007 | isbn=9788181970237 | access-date=23 January 2016 | archive-date=28 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128012127/http://www.shimply.com/books/from-the-wings-notes-on-indian-theatre-p33828257 | url-status=dead }}</ref> which is a prescribed academic text at [[Christ University]].<ref name="Department of Performing Arts Syllabus">{{cite web | url=http://christuniversity.in/uploadimages/PEP%20SYLLABUS2012.pdf | title=Department of Performing Arts Syllabus | publisher=Christ University | date=2016 | access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref> Natarang Pratishthan, a knowledge repository of Indian theatre, has compiled around 100 documents related to her performances, which include books, posters, news reports and articles, photographs and video clippings.<ref name="Natarang Pratishthan Documentation Catalogue">{{cite web | url=http://www.natarang.org/catalogue-search.php?keywords=Sabitri%20Heisnam&dd=1&cat=Newsclipping&index=15 | title=Natarang Pratishthan Documentation Catalogue | publisher=Natarang Pratishthan | date=2016 | access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref>

== Awards and honours ==
Manipur State Kala Akademi awarded Sabitri their annual award for acting in 1988<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri (Padmashree Awardee in 2007)" /> and the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] reached her in 1991.<ref name="Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Awards)" /> The same year, she received the Critics' Award for best actor at the III [[Experimental theatre in the Arab world#Context|Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre]] for her performance in ''Migi Sharang'' (Human Cage).<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri" /> Her performance in the 2001 production, ''Death of Two Women'' earned her the Fellowship of Majlis Culture, Mumbai, an award-winning platform for interdisciplinary arts, which commented on her ''technique of breathing and its influence on performance''.<ref name="Fellowship">{{cite web | url=http://majlisbombay.org/1998-1999/ | title=Fellowship | publisher=Majlis Culture | date=2016 | access-date=23 January 2016 | archive-date=31 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231155211/http://majlisbombay.org/1998-1999/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2002, [[Nandikar]], a Kolkata-based theatre group and the [[Ministry of Women and Child Development (India)|Department of Child and Woman Development]], Government of India awarded her the Nandikar Award<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri (Padmashree Awardee in 2007)" /> and she received the ''Natya Ratna'' title in 2006.<ref name="Heisnam Sabitri" /> The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]] in 2008.<ref name="Padma Awards" />

== See also ==
* [[Heisnam Kanhailal]]
* [[Kalakshetra Manipur]]
* [[Ima Sabitri]]
{{portal|India|Theatre}}

== References ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name | nm7483829 | Sabitri Heisnam }}
* {{cite AV media | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8h6kD5M0Lo | title=Works and Performance | publisher=Kalakshetra Manipur | date=11 March 2014 | people=Heisnam Kanhailal and Sabitri Heisnam | medium=Documentary film | location=Manipur}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | title=From the Wings, Notes on Indian Theatre | publisher=National School of Drama | author=Nemichandra Jain | year=2007 | isbn=9788181970237}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heisnam, Sabitri}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:People from Imphal]]
[[Category:Actresses from Manipur]]
[[Category:Indian stage actresses]]
[[Category:Indian film actresses]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian actresses]]

Sabitri Heisnam - Revision history

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