The Hindu : Front Page : The Hindu institutes award for play script

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Thursday, Aug 02, 2007
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The Hindu institutes award for play script

Divya Kumar

Chennai: The Hindu has instituted a major award for the best original play script in English written by an Indian. Announcing the MetroPlus Playwright Award 2008, N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, said the best entry would receive a cash pri ze of Rs. 1 lakh.

Speaking at the launch party of the third edition of the MetroPlus Theatre Festival here, Mr. Ram said the play must be full length, and must not have been published or performed in any form in order to be eligible for the prize.

“We expect to announce the first MetroPlus Playwright Award — decided by a panel of independent literary critics and representatives of our newspaper group — by the end of March 2008,” he said.

Mr. Ram said that although there had been a rise in the number of Indian playwrights writing in English in recent years, it was very difficult for the vast majority of them to get their works published by mainstream publishing houses.

“Efforts like the MetroPlus Playwright Award certainly will not change this situation overnight,” he said.

Spreading awareness

“What we hope to do — through our journalism and offline ventures like our Festival, Award and associated activities — is spread awareness, provide a platform to raise the level of interest of this genre among publishers and the public.”

Further details of submissions and other rules for the award would be published in The Hindu and on its website, he said.

Referring to the Theatre Festival, Mr. Ram said: “This year’s festival marks a departure in several ways. First, we have more plays — 12 actually. Four of these are productions from abroad, lending the festival an international flavour. There is a special segment, ‘The Chennai Chapter,’ which showcases some of the city’s theatre groups. Finally, some of the plays are large and ambitious productions.”

Peter Ratray, director of ‘To the Death of my Family,’ said it was an honour to participate in the Festival, which would help to bring people together.

The launch party of the Festival was attended by a number of theatre personalities and theatre lovers in the city.

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