Sabitri Heisnam was a Manipuri actress who was born in a rural area of Mayang Imphal in 1946. She was initiated into the performing arts by her aunt, the distinguished actress C. Gouramani. She toured the villages as a child artiste in Elangbam Joychandra`s popular travelling opera troupe. In that troupe she was performing the lead in Nimai Sanyas in 1955 for over 1000 shows.

Married to H. Kanhailal, she began her professional career in Manipuri theatre in the 1960s, with groups such as Aryan Theatre and Student Artistes` Association. However, she immersed herself in the experimental genre with the mother`s role in Kanhailal`s TamnaLal or `Haunting Deities` in 1972. Her body, gestures, movements, and voice became representative of the Manipuri woman. It was deeply pained within, full of love and generosity, but ferocious and awesome when provoked. She carried this language into her major collaborative works with her husband, as the mother bird in Pebet in 1975, Mi in Memoirs of Africa in 1985, and the eponymous Draupadi in 2000. In his group Kalakshetra, Kanhailal produced the vision and Sabitri the expression. She serves as President of the Theatre Women Artists Association of Manipur.

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