Media Release

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Media contact: Jasmine Sawant   416-726-9824 admin@sawitri.ca  

Media Release

SAWITRI Theatre Group Presents the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival (MMFF) in August 2025 at AN1 Studios and Sampradaya Theatre in Mississauga

Mississauga, Ontario Feb. 2026 – SAWITRI Theatre group is back with the 6th year of the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival (MMFF). Presenting the many languages of India – Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, and English too, the fringe is a celebration of artists, culture and the arts. It emphasizes accessibility, originality, and supporting independent artists. Fringe Festivals are held all over the world. Known for a diverse range of performances in various genres such as comedy, romance, tragedy and more, the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival is the first and only multilingual fringe festival in North America.

Over the duration of two weeks, there will be 48 performances of 12 different plays. Week 1 – from August 10th to August 16th, the performances will be at AN1 Studios, and Week 2 – from August 17th to August 23rd they will be at Sampradaya Theatre. 

SAWITRI Theatre Group – Founded in 2003 by Artistic Co-Directors Jasmine Sawant and Shruti Shah, SAWITRI Theatre Group is an award-winning, incorporated not-for-profit organization presenting original works featuring established professionals as well as emerging artists. SAWITRI’s mandate is to educate, inform, entertain, and heal through South Asian theatre arts that foreground women and the new generation, and to highlight issues of socio-political importance with works in some of India’s many languages including English. 

Winner of the 2016 Marty’s Award for excellence in theatre, SAWITRI Theatre is also the producer and presenter of the Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival (MMFF), the only multilingual fringe festival in North America. Operationally, SAWITRI Theatre Group is partly funded by the City of Mississauga and the Ontario Arts Council, as well as by The Open Space, Nitin Sawant, and the unstinting support of family, friends and volunteers. SAWITRI’s festivals are partly funded by Canadian Heritage. The MMFF 2025 was funded in part by the Experience Ontario grant.

Week 1 – Venue 1: AN1 Studios, 2465 Cawthra Rd. Unit 132 Mississauga, ON L5A 3P2

Week 2 – Venue 2: Sampradaya Theatre, 3250 Ridgeway Drive, Unit 5, Mississauga, ON L5L 5Y6

Performance Dates: August 10th – 23rd, 2026

Parking: FREE 

Tickets: $20 per person

Venue: Sampradaya Dance Creations, 3250 Ridgeway Dr, Mississauga, ON L5L 5Y6

Duration of each performance: 60 minutes approximately. Tickets: Only $15 + taxes/charges.

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Jasmine Sawant – Actor, producer, writer, manager, Founder and Artistic Co-Director of the award-winning SAWITRI Theatre Group (sawitri.ca), Jasmine works extensively in the arts, especially theatre, in Mississauga. Jasmine’s stage acting credits span a career of over 40 years. Her film credits are on www.imdb.com She’s indebted to the late Mahendra Joshi, her Guru in theatre. An award-winning writer, she has written and co-written plays for SAWITRI Theatre Group and other arts organizations.   Jasmine is equally passionate about community-engaged arts projects and frequently collaborates with social service agencies on unique projects. Jasmine is also the Executive Director of the award-winning Sampradaya Dance Creations and serves on the board of other arts organizations.

Shruti Shah – Actor, writer, designer, and Artistic Co-Director of the award-winning SAWITRI Theatre Group, Shruti has worked extensively in professional theatre in India. In Canada, Shruti’s acting credits in films include her principal role in ‘Dowry’ and in theatre, including her lead role in SAWITRI Theatre Group’s Saree Kahaniyan – Saree Stories and Koi Pan Ek Phoolnu Naam Bolo To? Her writing credits include Ab Kya Karey? and Meri Saas Meri Jaan that she co-wrote with Jasmine Sawant. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, the city of dreams, she has loved Bollywood films since she was a little girl, and remains an avid viewer of these films, and a reader of all that is ‘filmi’ or Bollywood. In May 2018, Shruti directed SAWITRI Theatre’s 12 short plays by Tanuj Khosla, presented as Hindi Shorts and three short plays for Hindi Shorts 2019. She is the Festival Director for the SAWITRI Shorts Theatre Festival (SSTF) each year as well as SAWITRI’s Mississauga Multilingual Fringe Festival (MMFF).

Nitin Sawant – has a deep passion for the arts. An excellent actor, he prefers to work behind the scenes. He applies his project management skills to producing theatre and cultural events with a professional approach. He has supported SAWITRI Theatre Group since its founding, first as the Founding Director and President and now as the Technical Director. Nitin has managed several performing arts events in Mumbai, and later in the Middle East. After moving to Canada in 1996, Nitin went on to produce arts and cultural events as well as a volunteer at festivals and at events organized by the Marathi Bhashik Mandal, Toronto.