Unprecedented response to the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival in Chennai 

In yet another indication of how popular short plays (10 minutes or less) have become, not just in the city, but elsewhere in the country, the response to the registrations for the seventh edition of the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival skyrocketed beyond anybody’s expectations.Even festival director Meera Krishnan wasn’t expecting the count to increase by 100. “Compared to the over-50 entries last year, this time we got 150 — we were overwhelmed! Needless to say, it was very challenging to shortlist 70,” says Meera.Sharing her observations on the kind of plays that were submitted, she says, “While we have deliberately focused on local directors, we have also got submissions from Bengaluru and Mumbai. Foreign scripts were given a miss, as we wanted to focus solely on content from within the country.” 

For the uninitiated, the Short+Sweet brand of performance art constitutes a shorter format of less than ten minutes or less. Conceptualised by Mark Cleary in 2002, the festival has grown in prominence over the years and is now picking up popularity in India too. “The themes we have discovered in the scripts show incredible variety. While the intent is to give new directors a platform to prosper, we have also seen established thespians and theatre groups come up with interesting plays with fresh content,” she says. The age group of the directors range from around 20 to 50, further showing the depth of variety the festival promises. The 70 plays will be screened over the course of four weeks, out of which 11 will be selected for the finale in August, to be held in Stella Adler Academy of Acting Los Angeles.  

July 5-30. Presented by Prakriti Foundation and The Blu Lotus Foundation, in association with Alliance Française of Madras. Tickets at Rs. 250 on eventjini.com