Bitty-Bat was born at Sweet Action Theatre in 2022 during a variety show/contest called Dodo Dome, hosted by Oliver Georgiou. From that five-minute improvised act emerged a character that has delighted audiences in Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, Edinburgh and beyond.

Created and performed by Emily Jeffers, Bitty-Bat was nurtured through Toronto Sketchfest’s Curator Program in 2023 under producer Goldy Goldberg and mentor Isaac Kessler. Emily and Isaac developed this first 20-minute show in the spring of 2023 at Sweet Action Theatre through a series of rehearsals and devising exercises. It was not until the very last minute during the Sketchfest tech rehearsal that it was decided Bitty-Bat would be primarily silent, creating a trademark characteristic of this enigmatic and ridiculous creature.

In 2024, Emily developed a second Bitty-Bat show that premiered again at Toronto Sketchfest under the working title of Bitty-Bat on Planet Earth, due to the show’s structure similar to that of a BBC Planet Earth episode. Mahdi Mozafari provided the exquisite David Attenborough-style narration of the show, and creative collaborators Allan Turner, Chase Jeffels, and Morgan Joy also contributed to the show’s shape, content, and narrative arc. 

After Toronto Sketchfest, Emily took Bitty-Bat to Montreal Sketchfest, the Montreal Clown Festival, PDA Space and The Elysian in Los Angeles, and the Edinburgh Fringe, later returning to the stage in Toronto at What the Festival and Comedy is Art.

This year, 2025, Bitty-Bat will be performing at Toronto Fringe in the show Bitty-Bat and Friends, a group show produced and performed by members of the Toronto Fringe’s 2024 cohort of the Theatre Entrepreneurship and Networking Training (TENT) program.