WHAT IS common between Amal Allana, Anjum Katyal, Neelam Mansingh, Ranjeet Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla? Apart from being celebrated theatre personalities, they have also been named jury members for the 10th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META). To be held between March 21 and 26, the organisers also announced the schedule of performances for the nominated plays in the national capital recently.
Talking about the gratifying 10 years of META and its journey, Jay Shah, head, cultural outreach, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “It is indeed heartening to see the participation of theatre groups from across the country, as also the unstinted support of the veterans of theatre over the last decade.”
Commenting on the awards, jury member Allana said, “META has provided encouragement and hope to theatre workers across the country that it is an art form worth pursuing in a very simple and effective way—by recognising excellence and applauding it.”
Over the past decade, META—one of the country’s premier theatre awards—has brought together the very best of theatre from across the country, recognising and rewarding the multitude of talents that contribute to this unique art form. From humble beginnings in 2006, META has received over 1,900 entries till date, from which the very best productions and talents each year are nominated for the awards across 13 different categories. Giving over 1,800 artistes a platform to showcase their work, META has so far staged close to 100 nominated plays from 60 different theatre groups across the country and awarded more than 110 artistes. META’s nominated plays span 13 different languages, representing 20 cities from across 13 states of the country.
Over the years, META’s nominated plays have touched upon issues like gender equality, political freedom, environmental concerns, condition of labourers, caste issues, communal tension, challenges in the country’s north-east, dysfunctional families, and displacement of Kashmiri Pandits, among others.
This year, plays from the north-east feature prominently with two productions from Assam (Dhou…The Wave and Fall of a King—Burha Manuhor Babe Desh Nai) and one from Manipur (Dreams From My Room) being nominated for the awards. Delhi makes a strong comeback to META with two acts—A Straight Proposal and Still & Still Moving. Rounding up the nominations are two plays from Mumbai (Aaydaan and Rage and Beyond: Irawati’s Gandhari), two from Bengaluru (Chitrapata and Kaumudi) and one from Kerala (Matthi).
Apart from the ‘best production’, awards will also be distributed for the ‘best director’, ‘best stage design’, ‘best light design’, ‘best innovative sound design’, ‘best costume design’, ‘best actor in a lead role (male)’, ‘best actor in a lead role (female)’, ‘best actor in a supporting role (male)’, ‘best actor in supporting role (female)’, ‘best original script’, ‘best ensemble’ and ‘best choreography’.
The shortlisted productions will be staged at the LTG Auditorium and Kamani Auditorium in Delhi between March 21 and 26. The awards ceremony will be held on March 27.
