She is the founder of Natya Shodh Sansthan, a theatre archive and research institute in Kolkata.
She received many awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her overall contributions, Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize, and awards from Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi, Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Parishad, and the Bharatiya Anuvad Parishad.
[2] Then, at the age of thirteen, she made her stage debut by acting in her grandfather Radha Krishna Das's play 'Maharana Pratap' at the annual festival of the Mahila Mandalam in Kashi.
She gained further attention for her performance in the dance play based on the story 'Shataranj Ke Khiladi', directed by Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.
[5] She played lead roles under the direction of prominent directors like Shyamanand Jalan, Shivkumar Joshi, Vimal Lath.
[5] In 1981, Pratibha Agrawal founded the Natya Shodh Sansthan, a theatre research institute in Kolkata.
The institute has collected rare materials used for theatre, drama manuscripts, posters, theatre reviews, newspaper and magazine clippings, magazines, books, audio-video cassettes, film stage models, slides, gramophone recordings, photographs, costumes, jewellery and brochures.
[2] Her research paper titled 'Hindi Language Styles: An Analytical Discussion' is also a valuable work.
[2] As a translator, she has translated notable works into Hindi including Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People (1959),Rabindranath Tagore's Shesh Raksha (1963), Badal Sircar's Ebang Indrajit (1969), Utpal Dutt's Tin ki Talwar (1979), and Jayavant Dalvi's Hurry Up, Hari (1995).
The first part of the autobiography Dastak Zindagi Ki, published in the year 1990, is about the struggles of her life from childhood to marriage.
[1] The second part Mod Zindagi Ka published in the year 1996, is about her life after marriage, and coming to Kolkata.
[7] In 2016 she received the 21st Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Award for Excellence in Indian Theatre by Sangit Kala Kendra.