Scholarship and Creative Practice
Innovative approaches and research to inspire educators and cultural leaders.
Empowering Educators Through Creative Practice
My scholarship sits at the intersection of theatre education, creative practice, and higher education, advancing equity centered approaches to teacher preparation and institutional transformation.
Research Focus
My work explores:
- Identity and representation in theatre education
- Creative practice as research and inquiry
- Equity centered teacher preparation
- Arts based methodologies, including ethnodrama
- Institutional transformation in arts education
Bridging Practice and Justice in Education
My scholarship integrates qualitative research, arts based inquiry, and performance to examine identity, power, and transformation across theater education and higher education. I am particularly interested in how teacher preparation programs can function as sites of equity driven institutional change. My work bridges research and practice to advance justice centered approaches to theater education.
Select Peer Reviewed & Scholarly Publications
Bringing Personal Identity Into Our Learning Spaces
Kavanakudiyil, S. (2024). Bringing Personal Identity into Our Learning Spaces. The Vermont Connection, 45(1). https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/tvc/vol45/iss1/14
Drama in Education
Kavanakudiyil, Sobha. (2023). Drama in Education. Open Resource Manual. https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/projects/drama-in-education
My Experience With Artists
Kavanakudiyil, Sobha. (2018). My Experience with Artists. Incite/Insight. 3 (2018) pp. 24-31.
http://joom.ag/DJia/p24
Dissertation
My written scholarship centers identity, representation, and belonging within learning environments, contributing to broader conversations in theater education and higher education research.
Selected Conference Presentations & Invited Talks
I regularly present research and creative scholarship at national and international conferences across theater education and higher education. Selected venues include:
- American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE)
- Educational Theatre Association (EdTA)
- New York City Arts in Education Roundtable
Workshops That Transform Practice
My presentations include practice based workshops, research, performance, and reflective frameworks to support equity centered transformation in teacher preparation.
Signature Keynotes
Centering identity, voice, and power in theater education through research and storytelling.
Applying the VOICE Framework to reimagine theater education and institutional practice.
Exploring storytelling and ethnodrama as research and pedagogy in higher education.
My research extends into performance as a mode of inquiry and dissemination. Through ethnodrama and applied theater, I explore how embodied storytelling can illuminate lived experience and invite institutional reflection.
An ethnodrama drawn from my doctoral research, this work amplifies composite narratives of female-identifying performing artists navigating race, gender, and professional precarity in audition and training spaces.
The work functions as both artistic practice and research intervention, engaging audiences in dialogue around power, representation, and systemic change within theater education. In conference and educational settings, my performance based scholarship invites audiences to move beyond abstract theory toward embodied engagement with justice centered practice.
