The capital city will this month play host to a youth theatre festival with plays representing all the 14 districts. The State Youth Welfare Board will organise the festival to be held at Tagore Theatre on February 22 and 23.
The festival here will be the culmination of weeks of district-level competitions, from which winners were chosen to represent the district at the State-level.
According to the organisers of the festival, in addition to highlighting the works of young theatre practitioners, the major aim of the festival is to provide opportunity for theatre enthusiasts from all districts.
“Often, theatre festivals have only State-level selections, due to which some districts are at a disadvantage. Districts with an active cultural space and lots of theatre personalities will have more than one play representing them. So, we decided on this format to ensure that everyone gets an equal opportunity,” said a member of the organising committee.
By transgenders
Fifteen plays will be staged at the festival, with one play by a group of transgender theatre personalities to be staged at the valedictory function. The rest will be part of the competition.
One of the conditions for the plays to be chosen to the competition was that the director should be below the age of 40.
There should also be a considerable number of youth and women on the stage as well as in the technical crew.
The plays should be written after January 2010.
Prize money
The winners of the competition will get a prize money of ₹1 lakh, while the second and third placed groups will get ₹75,000 and ₹50,000 each.
The plays chosen at the State level will get a grant of ₹25,000 each and the second and third placed plays at the district level will get ₹10,000 and ₹5,000 each.
Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs E.P. Jayarajan will inaugurate the festival at 9.30 a.m. on February 21.
The valedictory function is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. on February 22.