Sarah Saddler
Asst Professor
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Department: Fine & Performing Arts
Areas of expertise:
Email Address: sarah.saddler@baruch.cuny.edu
> View CV- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Grants
- Honors and Awards
- Service
Sarah Saddler is an Assistant Professor of Theater in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Baruch College CUNY, where she teaches courses on arts management and leadership, applied theatre, theatre history, and improvisation. Her research explores the role of theater and performance in global management, with a focus on the use of theater techniques in business settings in India and South Africa. Sarah has held Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and she previously advanced equity education and social justice arts programming in the Twin Cities public school district.
Education
Ph.D., Theatre Arts, University of Minnesota Minneapolis United States
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2023 | IDC | 4050H | Hon Feit Hum Sem I |
| Fall 2023 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
| Spring 2023 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
| Spring 2023 | THE | 3320 | Leadership Through Improvisati |
| Spring 2023 | MGT | 3320 | Leadership Through Improvisati |
| Spring 2022 | MGT | 4493 | Spe Topics-Human Resource Mgmt |
| Spring 2022 | THE | 4102 | Selected Topics |
| Spring 2022 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
| Fall 2021 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
| Fall 2021 | THE | 3056 | Thetr Org & Managemt |
| Spring 2021 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
| Spring 2021 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
| Spring 2021 | THE | 3020 | Applied Theatre Workshop |
| Fall 2020 | THE | 1041 | Introduction to Theatre Arts |
Artistic and Creative Activities
Saddler, S. (2022). I-Yeza Theatre Production.
Saddler, S. (2021). "Do-Feel-Live" Theatre Production .
Saddler, S. (2014). Joan: Voices in the Fire Theatre Production . University of Minnesota Department of Theatre and Dance.
Saddler, S. (2013). 9 Circles Theatre Production . Miami University Department of Theatre.
Saddler, S. (2013). Tough Choices for the New Century Theatre Production . Miami University Department of Theatre.
Journal Articles
Schmidt, B. (2023). "COVID Relief and the Dynamics of State Care in South Africa's Performance Economy". Performance Research , 27(6-7). 62-70.
(2020). "Training Corporate Bodies". TDR/The Drama Review, 64(3). 118-131.
Saddler, S., Nagar, R., & Da Costa, D. (2019). "The Perils and Possibilities of the Creative Economy: A Conversation" . AGITATE!,
(2017). "‘Think differently, get creative’: producing precarity in India’s corporate theater culture industry". Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22(1). 22-25.
Book Chapters
(2020). "'Think Differently, Get Creative': Producing Precarity in India's Corporate Theatre Culture Industry". Precariousness and Performances of Welfare Routledge Press.
Jackson, P. (2016). "Drifting Diana Taylor's Rift: Embodying Manning Marable's Living History in Two Trains Running". The Truths We Uncover, The Truths We Wrestle: New Perspectives on August Wilson's Pittsburg Cycle Plays McFarland & Company Press.
Presentations
Saddler, S. "Corporate Theatre in a VUCA World: Unlocking Peak Performance in Sensorial Managerialism". Centre for Sensory Studies. Montreal, Canada: Concordia University.
Saddler, S. (2024, March 30). "Expanding the Archives: Sources and the Social Sciences". London School of Economics South Asia Centre Interdisciplinary Roundtable Event. Online: South Asia Centre, London School of Economics.
Saddler, S. (2024, November 30). "I Can Work Limitless": Performance, Labor, and Hope in Corporate India. American Society for Theatre Research. Providence, Rhode Island
Saddler, S. (2024, October 28). Performance as Alternative Knowledge-Creation: An Interdisciplinary Roundtable Discussion. Performance and Business Research Working Group. Online: Performance and Business Research Working Group, Calgary Institute of Humanities, University of Calgary.
Saddler, S. We are like a giant potjiekos: Industrial Theater and the Paradox of Corporate Democracy. Performing Democracy Conference. Online: Drama for Life Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Saddler, S. "Business Retreating in a VUCA World: Cultivating Authentic Presence in the 'Capitalist Funhouse'". Business Retreats at the Crossroads of Religion and Performance. Online: Calgary Institute of Humanities, University of Calgary, Canada.
Saddler, S. "The Power of Storytelling" Keynote Address. Parker Hannifin International Women's Day Event. Online: Parker Hannifin Corporation.
Saddler, S. Performance and Improvisation at Work . Performance and Improvisation at Work: An Interdisciplinary Discussion. Online: Performance and Business Research Working Group, University of Calgary.
Saddler, S. Performing the Brand: Arts Economies in Dubai. American Society for Theatre Research. Online: American Society for Theatre Research.
Saddler, S. Applied Theatre for HR Learning and Development. Master Talk Series. Online: Applied Theatre India Foundation.
Saddler, S. Applied Theatre for HR Development. Applied Theatre in India Conference. Online: India Applied Theatre Foundation.
Saddler, S. Performing Corporate Feminism . Performance and Performativity Pre-Conference. Madison, Wisconsin: Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin.
Saddler, S. The Boalian Brand. Mid America Theatre Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Mid America Theatre Association.
Saddler, S. Corporate Theatre in Global India: A Performance Ethnography . South Asia Seminar Series. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota South Asia Studies Department.
Saddler, S. Nukkad Natak to CSR: Theatre for Corporate Development in Neoliberal India. International Federation for Theatre Research. Hyderabad, India: International Federation for Theatre Research.
Saddler, S. Virtual Embodiment and Theatres of War. Mid America Theatre Conference. Kansas City, Missouri: Mid America Theatre Conference.
Saddler, S. Revision, Reconstruction, Performance: The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913. Mid America Theatre Conference. Cleveland, Ohio: Mid America Theatre Conference.
Saddler, S. Theatre as Body Shopping: Cultivating Authentic Presence in a VUCA World. American Society for Theatre Research. Online: American Society for Theatre Research.
Saddler, S. Acting Limitless: The Performance Ecology of Corporate India. American Society for Theatre Research. San Diego, California: American Society for Theatre Research.
Saddler, S. Performing Managers: Theatre as Democratic Culture Industry. American Society for Theatre Research. Minneapolis, Minnesota: American Society for Theatre Research.
Saddler, S. Improving Performance, Dramatically: Corporate Theatre in Global India. Social Theory Colloquium. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University.
Saddler, S. Virtual Iraq: Performativity and Military Trauma Therapy. Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Orlando, Florida: Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
Saddler, S. Embodied Learning in Creative Capitalisms. Creative Corporealities Symposium. Online: Creative Corporealities Interdisciplinary Working Group, Bath Spa University, United Kingdom.
Saddler, S. We are like a giant potjiekos': Industrial Theatre and the Paradox of Corporate Revolution. Mid America Theatre Conference. Cleveland, Ohio: Mid America Theatre Conference.
Reviews
Saddler, S. (1970,January 1). Book Review for "Brutal Beauty: Aesthetics and Aspiration in Urban India" (Jisha Menon, Northwestern University Press) . Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism . In Progress.
Saddler, S. (1970,January 1). Review of A Poetics of Modernity: Indian Theatre Theory, 1850 to the Present . Theatre Survey . Cambridge University Press.
Saddler, S. (1970,January 1). Book review of Politicizing Creative Economy: Activism and a Hunger Called Theater by Dia Da Costa (University of Alberta Press).. Theatre Journal . Johns Hopkins University Press .
Saddler, S. (1970,January 1). Review of Reengineering India: Work, Capital, and Class in an Offshore Economy . Anthropology of Work Review . Wiley-Blackwell .
Research Currently in Progess
Saddler, S.(n.d.). Book monograph Performing Corporate Bodies: Multinational Theatre in Global India . In Progress.
My book monograph, titled Performing Corporate Bodies: Multinational Theatre in Global India, is under advance contract with Routledge Press. I received my contract in July 2022 and submitted my draft manuscript for peer review on January 28, 2024. The monograph is currently under peer review.
Abstract: This book provides the first ethnographic study of the growing use of theatre-based management training in the global work economy, with a focus on its use in post-liberalization India. Tracking the rise and evolution of corporate theatre in India’s business hub cities since the 2010s, the monograph draws on in-depth study with corporations, management consultancies, and theatre artists and activists to offer an empirically rich account of how theatre and performance have assumed new forms of capitalist value and legitimacy in contemporary management. Chapters featuring vignettes from theatre trainings detail how organizations harness dramatic techniques and traditions for the inculcation of behavioral norms that adhere to projects of nationalist and neoliberal self-making, as well as how individuals undergoing these practices utilize the dramatic devices they provide to contest and reinforce codes of cultural conduct and seek temporary forms of release in relation to their everyday work lives.
Saddler, S.(n.d.). South African Industrial and Workerist Theatre: Histories and Contemporary Manifestations . In Progress.
My developing research project examines South African workerist theatre, or the use of drama as an educational tool in labor settings throughout pre-and post-apartheid South Africa. I chart a genealogy of workerist theatre from the worker’s theatres of the 1970s to its current use in contemporary corporate events known as “industrial theatre.” Drawing on research conducted in capacity as an ethnographer, co-director, and stage performer with industrial theatre group StageFright Edutainment, I analyze how industrial theatre functions as a site where post-apartheid logics of racialized power are conjoined with capitalist rationalities of inclusivity and success. This research is laying the groundwork for a second planned book on the role of workerist and industrial theatre against the backdrop of South Africa’s neoliberal restructuring and post-apartheid creative economy.
| Title | Funding Agency Sponsor | Start Date | End Date | Awarded Date | Total Funding | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performing Corporate Bodies: Industrial Theatre in South Africa | PSC CUNY 52 | 07/01/2021 | 06/30/2023 | 04/15/2021 | 3440 | Completed |
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innovative Teaching Recognition from Baruch | Baruch College’s Office of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs (OCMPA) | 2023-05-08 | My "Leadership Through Improvisation” course was recognized in the spring of 2023 by Baruch College’s Office of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs (OCMPA). As part of a campus-wide “innovative teachers” marketing campaign, the office approached me to feature the class and my teaching. During the campaign, I had conversations with OCMPA Vice President Wendy Steinburg about the course design and inspiration, as well as participated in a video interview. A representative of OCMPA observed several classes in order to gather videotape footage of students engaged in improvisation games and activities. As part of the process, I was asked to collect testimonials from former students, many of whom explained how the course directly impacted their future careers. A former student, Maizy Pareja, wrote the following to me via email exchange in April 2023: “The [Leadership Through Improvisation] class was super valuable to me and has been able to provide guidance for me while entering the workforce. After college, I began working as an Associate Account Manager at Snap, Inc. and have been able to use my team building skills from the course to meet new coworkers and become comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Within my first few months, I began using my creativity techniques on the fly in order to present pitches to clients or present in internal meetings. I truly believe the course is amazing for Baruch’s communication curriculum because while other communications professors emphasize that “practice makes perfect,” Professor Saddler’s course teaches you that thinking creativity and being confident can equally do the same.” |
| CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publication Program (FFPP) | CUNY University Human Resources | 2022-12-01 | The Faculty Fellowship Publication Program (FFPP) is sponsored by University Human Resources in order to advance CUNY’s institutional commitment to diversity. This University-wide initiative assists full-time untenured CUNY faculty (assistant professors) in the design and execution of writing projects essential to progress toward tenure. These projects may include research-based scholarly articles for juried journals, books for academic presses and creative writing projects. This program provides three credit hours of course release for the spring semester, a writing group, and the guidance of a senior faculty member. |
| Collaborative Research Award | American Society for Theatre Research | 2022-09-01 | Awarded the ASTR Collaborative Research Award for research related to the "Performance and Business Research Working Group" I co-lead with faculty at the University of Calgary. Award was accompanied by a stipend of approximately $3,000 and supported travel to Calgary for research and workshop purposes. |
| Teaching Recognition from Baruch Center for Teaching and Learning | 2022-07-03 | Notified by Baruch's Center for Teaching and Learning to inform me that my teaching was positively acknowledged by Baruch students in a campus-wide teaching survey on learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship | Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape | 2021-06-09 | Received Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa). Accompanied by research stipend of approximately $5,000. https://www.chrflagship.uwc.ac.za/ |
| Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship | American University of Beirut, Lebanon | 2019-04-01 | Received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the American University of Beirut Center for Arts and Humanities during the 2019-2020 academic year. Accompanied by living stipend of $45,000 and teaching position in the AUB Department of Civilization Studies. |
| Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship | University of Minnesota Graduate School | 2018-05-07 | Nominated through the UMN Department of Theatre and Dance and awarded the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for the 2018-2019 academic year. Accompanied by living stipend of approximately $25,000. |
| Helen Krich Chinoy Dissertation Fellowship | American Society for Theatre Research | 2018-03-15 | The Helen Krich Chinoy Dissertation Fellowship is intended to assist Ph.D. candidates with the expenses of travel to national and international collections to conduct research projects connected with their dissertations ($3,000). Used to conduct research in India during the summer of 2018. |
| Rarig Theatre Award | University of Minnesota Department of Theatre and Dance | 2017-05-12 | Received a Rarig Theatre Award for graduate research, accompanied by a $1000 award. |
| Junior Dissertation Research Fellowship | American Institute for Indian Studies, National Institute of Advanced Study, Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore, India) | 2017-04-03 | Received a Junior Dissertation Research Fellowship through the American Institute for Indian Studies. Host Institute: National Institute of Advanced Study at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Faculty Member: Carol Upadhya, Department of Anthropology. |
| Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship | University of Minnesota and UMN Institute for Advanced Study | 2017-04-03 | Received an Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship through the University of Minnesota. Accompanied by living stipend of approximately $24,000. Sponsoring Institute: Institute for Advanced Study. Sponsoring Faculty Member: Michael Goldman, UMN Department of Sociology. |
| Charles Nolte Theatre Scholarship for Outstanding Graduate Research | University of Minnesota Department of Theatre and Dance | 2016-05-13 | Received a Charles Nolte Theatre Scholarship for Outstanding Graduate Research, accompanied by a $1500 award. |
| Foreign Language and Area Studies Academic Year Fellowship | United States Department of Education | 2016-04-01 | The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program provides allocations of academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions of higher education to assist meritorious undergraduate students and graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and related area or international studies. Accompanied by academic year living stipend of approximately $15,000. |
| Foreign Language and Area Studies Academic Year Fellowship | United States Department of Education | 2015-05-15 | The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program provides allocations of academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions of higher education to assist meritorious undergraduate students and graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and related area or international studies. Accompanied by academic year living stipend of approximately $15,000. |
| Foreign Language and Area Studies Summer Language Fellowship | American Institute for Indian Studies | 2015-04-01 | The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program provides allocations of academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions of higher education to assist meritorious undergraduate students and graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and related area or international studies. Accompanied by summer living stipend of approximately $4,000 and residency with the American Institute for Indian Studies Summer Hindi Language Learning Program. Jaipur, India, 2015. |
| Graduate Teaching Award | Miami University Graduate School | 2012-05-01 | Received a Graduate Teaching Award from Miami University ($300) |
College
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad Hoc Committee on Tenure and Promotion Guidelines | Attendee, Meeting | Present | |
| Joint Committee on Research | Committee Member | Present | |
| Fine and Performing Arts Harman Artist Residency Committee | Committee Chair | Present | |
| Joint Committee on Research | Committee Chair | Present | |
| Honors Faculty Admissions Committee | Committee Member | Present | |
| Representatives to the Zicklin School of Business | Committee Member | Present | |
| Fine and Performing Arts Department Curriculum Committee | Committee Member | Present |
Professional
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance and Business Research Working Group | Program Organizer & Leadership Team Member | Canada | Canada | 9/1/2020 | Present | International |
| Performance in/from the Global South Working Group, American Society for Theatre Research | Conference-Related | United States | 2/1/2024 | Present | International | |
| Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape | Workshop Organizer | South Africa | 7/1/2021 | 8/30/2021 | International |