ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Indian American physicist wins theater award
Her play received critical attention from outlets including The New York Times and The New Yorker.
-
1759163132.png)
Anushka Pathak - Fri, 06, Feb 2026
- 12:58 EST
- 22
A still from physicist Bulbul Chakraborty’s play ‘Rheology’ / Courtesy: Brandeis University
Indian American physicist Bulbul Chakraborty has won an Obie Award for her stage debut in the off-Broadway play 'Rheology,' marking a rare crossover from theoretical physics to theater.
The award, announced in early 2026, cited her “deeply personal turn” in the production, praising a performance that “plunges nakedly, beautifully into her own grief through song.”
ALSO READ: Indian American alumnus donates $4M to BITS Pilani
Chakraborty collaborated on 'Rheology' with her son, playwright and director Shayok Misha Chowdhury. The one-act play ran at the Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn through May 2025 and used granular materials such as sand as a metaphor to explore life, death, love, and loss.
In the production, Chowdhury stages his mother’s death, while Chakraborty, then 71 and without prior acting experience, performs opposite her son. The narrative contrasts Chowdhury’s fear that he will not survive his mother’s death with Chakraborty’s belief that he will, drawing parallels to the fragility and adaptability of sand.
Chakraborty opened the play with a lecture on physics. Reflecting on the process, she added, “It was exposure therapy for Misha, then it started hitting me that it was my mortality.”
She said audience reactions often centered on reflection and connection: “What I hear from the audience is that it has made them think about mortality,” and “A lot of younger people step out of the play and say, ‘I’m going to call my mom right now.’”
More glimpses from Chakraborty’s play ‘Rheology’ / Courtesy: Brandeis University'Rheology' received critical attention from outlets including The New York Times and The New Yorker.
Chakraborty is professor emerita of physics at Brandeis University. She earned her doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1979 and joined the Brandeis faculty in 1989, becoming a full professor in 2000 and holding the Enid and Nathan Ancell Professorship of Physics.
A condensed matter theorist, her research focused on systems far from equilibrium, including granular materials, jamming, and fragile matter. She was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2008 and received a Simons Fellowship in theoretical physics in 2018.
Discover more at New India Abroad.
Related
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
Video
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login