DESI DIARY
LAUNCHED: MISSISSAUGA MULTILINGUAL FRINGE FESTIVAL
A scene from O, the story of two mystic poets, Rabia of Basra and Karaikkal Ammaiyar of Tamil Nadu.
Sawitri Theatre Group launched the first Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival (MMFF), scheduled to run from August 16 to 22 in-person and from August 23 to 31 digital online, and extended online from September 1 to 30, 2021.
A first for Sawitri, this festival is a part of the North American fringe family. Inspired by the great fringe festival of Edinburgh, and the Toronto Fringe Festival closer home, this first multilingual fringe festival in Canada brings theatre in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and English. Six plays in-person and six online, with artists from Mississauga, Brampton, Toronto, Milton, London, New Jersey and New Delhi.
“We are beyond thrilled to have the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival (MMFF) join the over 30 festivals of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF),” said Lucy Eveleigh, Executive Director of Toronto Fringe Festival and President of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals.
“I want to congratulate Sawitri for creating Canada’s first ever multi-lingual fringe festival in Mississauga,” said Paul Damaso, the Director of Arts & Culture and CEO, Living Arts Centre, City of Mississauga.. “This will be an exciting addition to our 2021 events calendar and another great example of the innovative projects being developed by Mississauga’s arts and culture sector.
Founder and Artistic Director of Sampradaya Dance Creations, Lata Pada, said, “I’m very excited to have Sawitri Theatre Group launch the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival at Sampradaya Theatre.”
“We are very excited to be launching this festival both in-person and online, even while we are still figuring out the new ‘normal’ in a post-pandemic recovery phase,” said Jasmine Sawant, Co-Founder and Artistic Co-Director of Sawitri Theatre Group. “In time, we hope MMFF will become a destination of choice for artists and audiences from across Canada, the USA and the globe, including countries comprising South Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangla Desh and Sri Lanka and many more.
Shruti Shah, the Artistic Co-Director added, “The MMFF has been a dream of ours. It’s wonderful to see our dream coming true in August 2021. We are grateful for the support of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) and especially of Michele Gallant, Calgary Fringe.”
In-person: Bali (Marathi), Boundaries+Hop Scotch (English), Grey Area (English), Manto (Punjabi, English and Hindi), Thadaka (Malayalam), The Draupadi Project (English).
Digital: Dignify Me (English), Memory Lane (English), O (English), Park (English), Sara Zinda Hai (English), Stories of a Dish (English).
Jasmine Sawant, Co-Founder and Artistic Co-Director of Sawitri Theatre Group.
Highlights include:
BALI
Bali, by Vijay Tendulkar is a suspense one-act play. Bali means Victim. The play revolves around a case of suspected poisoning involving a doctor and a patient couple.
Producers: Leena Deodhare and Rama Joshi.
Director: Rama Joshi
Dramaturge: Prakash Date
Cast: Leena Deodhare, Prashant Sule, Prakash Joshi, Vivek Gulavane, Vidyout Joshi, Deepak Sant
BOUNDARIES
Boundaries. Who do boundaries favour? Two characters, previously unknown to each other, explore the meanings of knowledge, tradition, and objectivity.
Producing Company: First Steps Theatre
Producers: Joshua Patrick and Laura Curiale
Director: Alexandra Rizkallah
Author, playwright, originator: Abhimanyu Acharya
Cast: Marlaine Ramoodith, Jack Vrolyk
HOP SCOTCH
Hop Scotch. When two sisters, Ismene and Antigone, find themselves confined together, they are forced to deal with questions of love, memory, family, and freedom.
Cast: MK Ramoodith, Siddharth Kumar
GREY AREA
The polarized thinking and guided expectations from the world we live in often mold individuals to live lives in dichotomies whether it be right and wrong, heart and brain or belief and logic.
Producer, co-director: Gunja Chakraborty
Author, playwright, originator: Gunja Chakraborty
Cast: Gunja Chakraborty, Raina Desai, Amlan Das
STORIES OF MANTO
Stories of Manto comprises five stories that exposes the brutal truth of a society that was at its demonic worst after the partition of India and Pakistan. Performed in English, Hindi and Punjabi, each theatrical short presents a combination of high emotion and taut narratives from an author who was considered one of the most controversial writers of his time, Saadat Hassan Manto.
Production Company: Hive Performing Arts
Producer: Darshana Thakkar
Director: Jimish Thakkar
Cast: Dhruva Dwivedi, Mehr Thakkar, Naimesh Nanavaty, Akhil Pandya, Sarabjeet Singh Arora, Jimish Thakkar
THADAKA
Thadaka. Drawing inspiration from the famous Malayalam poem Thadaka Enna Dravida Rajakumari by Vayalar Rama Varma, Thadaka is a unique presentation of a fierce Dravidian princess; and differs markedly from Valmiki’s Ramayana, the oldest and most widely read version of the epic.
Production Company: ATAM Arts Collection
Producer: Harikishan S Nair
Director: Suma Nair
Author, playwright, originator: Bichoos Chalanga
Cast: Ananya Kishore, Suma Nair, Harikishan S Nair, Navneet Vallat, Hari Vattappilli, Roshin Shabu
THE DRAUPADI PROJECT
Production Company: Tamasha Arts
Producer: Sharada Eswar
Director: Karin Randoja
Author, playwright, originator: Sharada Eswar
Cast: Sharada Eswar
Digital – Online
DIGNIFY ME: AN AUDIO PLAY
Dignify Me: An Audio Play explores the complex, funny, and tender relationships of three Pakistani women – two sisters and their mother – after the matriarch of the family elects to access medical assistance in dying. As Alzheimer’s disease wreaks havoc on their lives, the three must come to terms with life after death.
Production Company: Poetic License Creations
Playwright, producer: Rabiya Mansoor
Director: Lisa Karen Cox
Cast: Rabiya Mansoor
O
O. The story of two mystic poets, Rabia of Basra and Karaikkal Ammaiyar of Tamil Nadu. Both struggled under patriarchal structures and ultimately triumphed over the very society that berated and exiled them. Coming from cultures that have been at loggerheads with each other in recent history, they fought bigotry and emphasised the primacy of the human spirit against religious bigotry. Explored by two dancer-actors, who switch roles rapidly to emphasise the shape-shifting nature of the soul that lives and evolves forever in the continuity of O, never beginning or ending.
Production Company: Katyani
Producer, director, co-writer: Sohaila Kapur
Cast: Shilpika Bordoloi, Gilles Chuyen, Pawan Waghmare
PARK
Park. There is a crowd even in a park.
Producer: ICS Theatre
Director: Mahesh Dattani
Author, playwright, originator: Manav Kaul
Cast:: Anil Joseph, Shailendra Khurana, Murtuza Sabir, Sri Alathur
SARA ZINDA HAI
Sara Zinda Hai. “Some women fear the fire, some women simply become it.” Set in different eras, Sara Zinda Hai presents the unforgiving realities of two strong women who challenge the patriarchal social system. A thought provoking yet disturbing tale.
Production Company: D Creations and Mizaaz Arts
Director: Raina Desai
Cast: Dhruva Dwivedi , Megha Raina
STORIES OF A DISH
Stories of a Dish. A global pandemic may have struck, but we have a chef who’s just stuck. He wants to win the world over with his cooking, but, will he able to learn how to? He’s got to face isolation, earn acceptance and most importantly, get groceries delivered! Will he finds the secret recipe to happiness? A culinary theatrical journey awaits.
Producers: Himanshu Sitlani and Neha Poduval
Director: Neha Poduval
Written by: Himanshu Sitlani
Cast: Himanshu Sitlani
FOR TICKETS
$12 in-person. Contact admin@sawitri.ca or www.sawitri.ca/mmff.