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Application 2025

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards and Festival will be held in New Delhi

The Festival Secretariat invites entries from across the country, from theatre groups in the following categories:

  • Best Production
  • Best Director
  • Best Stage Design
  • Best Light Design
  • Best Innovative Sound Design
  • Best Costume Design
  • Best Choreography
  • Best Actor in a Lead Role - Male
  • Best Actor in a Lead Role - Female
  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Male
  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Female
  • Best Original Script
  • Best Ensembled

The award consists of a specially designed trophy and a cheque.

Theatre productions may be verbal or non-verbal and may include physical theatre, puppetry, multimedia, musicals, movement, and dance.

The META Secretariat invites theatre groups, individuals, playwrights, and critics to submit their productions for META 2025.

Entries will be accepted from 1st August 2024 to 15th January 2025, for the 20th edition of the Festival.

A Selection Committee, composed of eminent personalities from the cultural sector, will select 10 plays to be physically staged in Delhi.

Nominations will be announced on our website in February 2025.

THEATRE PRODUCTIONS MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE AWARDS:

  • The play must be produced in India.
  • Plays must have been staged between 01st January 2020 to 15th January 2025.
  • Plays can be in any Indian language or can be non-verbal.
  • There is no restriction on the number of entries by a single applicant.
  • A play must be a minimum of 45 mins.
  • For Best Original Script: A play should be an original or devised script. And it can be an adaptation of a novel or short story.
  • The Director/Writer/Producer must have copyrights for adaptation/ use of existing music/ visual effects etc.
  • The Producers/ Theater group must ensure they have the rights to broadcast the nominated production.
  • Adapted or inspired productions must credit the work they have adapted from.
  • You can not submit a play that has been submitted to the META Secretariat in the past. This will be considered an invalid Application. However if a play withdrew once selected for reasons beyond their control, the secretariat will consider reapplication in the following year. The final decision of being selected in the top 10 will solely remain with the selection committee.
  • All plays must be video recorded in a suitable environment where all theatre aspects are visible, for e.g. Stage, sets, lights, costumes, sound etc. can be seen with subtitles in English. (Plays should be shot during a performance).
  • A recording of the entire production must be submitted via the link provided on the Official META Website. The link should be available through Google Drive/ YouTube.
  • Excerpts and trailers will not be accepted.
  • Plays must be submitted in their original language along with subtitles in English.

Important Information:

  • There is no application fee required for submission.
  • Nominated plays will be presented during the META festival.
  • The cost of shipping the set or the set build, travel by AC II and III Tier Sleeper, boarding and lodging, venue cost and any additional technical requirement along with an honorarium will be provided for, by the Festival Secretariat.
  • In cases of copyright infringement, whether local or international, the submitting producer shall be held responsible and the play will be disqualified. The Festival Secretariat will not be held liable.
  • Should a theatre company not be in a position to afford a video recording to send their application in META, they may apply for funding up to Rs. 5000, in order to record the production and send the entry to META.
  • All such requests should be sent via email on metawards@teamworkarts.com. An invoice should be made in the name of Teamwork Arts Pvt Ltd.
  • All plays in languages other than English, if selected, will be staged with subtitles. Line by line subtitles have to be provided by the producer/director.
  • In case a production house finds it impossible to send in their digital Application, the Secretariat will consider accepting a physical Application. The secretariat should be informed well in advance in such a case. These entries will only be accepted if there is a valid and extreme reasoning to it.

In the event that the production is nominated for the Festival, groups will be invited to stage the play in New Delhi as part of the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards and Festival, which is scheduled from the 13th to the 20th of March, 2025.

The schedule as decided by the Secretariat is not bound to be influenced by the availability of a production to perform on any specific date of the Festival. Applicants are requested to be aware of the Festival dates and shall make themselves available in case of selection.

Nominees in each award category are expected to attend the Award Ceremony in National address attire.

Application 2025