SAWITRI
SAWITRI Theatre Group is an incorporated not-for-profit community organization envisioned by Jasmine Sawant and co-founded by Shobha Hatte. Shruti Shah and Nain Amyn along with Shobha and Jasmine form the core. It was born out of a recognized need for theatre that focused on women centered stories. SAWITRI works at a grass roots level with small focus groups and collaborates with other organizations to highlight issues from a woman’s perspective. The group is greatly supported by family, friends and volunteers from the community. SAWITRI has been performing at several South Asian festivals and venues in keeping with its mandate to educate, inform, entertain and heal through the arts, especially theatre. SAWITRI’s projects focus on issues regarding women’s mental health, violence against women, women's search for identity, women’s self-image and women’s freedom to make their own choice.
This year Sawitri presents a play written and directed by Zohra Zubairi of "Bridging the Gap productions. This play is written specially for the Mosaic festival.
Zohra Zubairi is a writer of short stories, poetry and plays both in English as well as her native language Urdu. She has travelled extensively and records her experiences in her creative works. She is founder and President of Bridging the Gap Productions, a not for profit organization with a mission of Enlightenment through Entertainment (zohraz.com)
Through her writings and socio dramas, Zohra has touched upon and brought to stage various sensitive social issues that reflect our Canadian multi cultural community.
This new light hearted play ' From a Widow's Closet' has been written exclusively for the Mosaic 2009 and brings to stage Canadians of various faiths and culture as a meaningful reflection of our multi cultural mosaic!