Mahsa Sheydani is a doctoral researcher in Creative Arts (Performance Studies and Drama), writer, literary translator, and theatre-maker whose practice and research sits at the intersection of performance, archives, and cultural politics. Her work explores how performance and embodied practices can preserve, transmit, and reactivate forms of knowledge and memory that are absent, fragmented, or excluded from official archives.
She holds a BA in Theatre and Dramatic Literature from the University of Tehran and an Erasmus Mundus Joint MA in Media Arts Cultures, completed across the University for Continuing Education Krems (Austria), Aalborg University (Denmark), and the University of Łódź (Poland), which she undertook with the fully funded Erasmus Mundus Excellence Scholarship.
Mahsa joined Loughborough University in 2025 as a PhD researcher in the School of Design and Creative Arts. From September 2025 to September 2026, Mahsa served as Lead Doctoral Representative for the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University. In this role, she represented doctoral researchers across the School and worked closely with the Deputy Directors of Doctoral Programmes and the Doctoral Researchers Experience Board. Since June 2026,
Mahsa has served as a General Editor on the Editorial Team of Studies in Theatre and Performance Journal (Taylor & Francis).
Mahsa's interdisciplinary PhD Research is titled: 'Making a Scene: Rupture as Performance in Times of Archivelessness'.
Her work investigates how bodies and performative practices can sustain cultural and political memory in contexts where official documentation is absent, restricted, fragmented, or subject to erasure.
As an active writer and researcher, Mahsa has published her work across international peer-reviewed journals and Persian-language scholarly and cultural publications, including Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal, Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, Ziba-Shenakht: Quarterly of Theoretical and Historical Art Studies, Dialogue (Goftego): On Culture and Society, etc. She has also presented her research internationally at conferences including the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) Annual Conference, the European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance (EASTAP) Annual Conference, Reframing the Archive: International Conference on Photography and Visual Culture, Between Then and Now: Performing Archives Conference, etc.
Selected Publications:
- Sheydani, M. (2026). “On the Sustainability of Political Resistance Through Training Performative Re- in Conflicted Situations.” Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 17(1), 148–152. DOI: 10.1080/19443927.2026.2652749.
- Sheydani, M. (2026). Book review of Theatre Fandom: Engaged Audiences in the 21st Century. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 22(1), 137–140. Sheydani, M. (2021).“‘Translation of Translation’: The Emergence of Western-Style Theatre and Playwriting in Iran: Studying Mirza Agha Tabrizi’s Letters and Plays.” Dialogue (Goftego): On Culture and Society, No. 87.
- Sheydani, M. (2020).“How Publishing and Translating the ‘History of Theatre’ Books Affected Theatre Teaching Methods in Iranian Academia.” Theatre Studies Journal, No. 2.
Since 2025, Mahsa has taught and facilitated online lectures, seminars, and workshops in drama, performance studies, and cultural studies in collaboration with Iranian educational and cultural institutions, including Khanesh Institute, Tehran. Her teaching addresses topics including performance and collective memory, Brecht, and embodied knowledge.
At Loughborough University, Mahsa is developing her UK higher-education teaching experience through doctoral professional development, working alongside her supervisor to support and co-deliver elements of undergraduate teaching courses, including art theory and art criticism. Her teaching and facilitation practice builds on earlier experience in Iran, including her taking student roles at the University of Tehran and her close involvement with the Tajrobeh Theatre Festival, where she was the director/ facilitator for the Text-Performance segment of the 20th Tajrobeh Festival (2019–2020). This experience marked an early stage in her engagement with experimental theatre-making, collaborative learning, and practice-led approaches to performance and creative arts.