2nd edition of Writers' Bloc from Jan 9-Feb 4

Mumbai, Jan 4 (UNI) The second edition of ''Writers' Bloc'', aimed at nurturing and recognising talent in the area of playwrighting, will be held here in Mumbai from January 9 to February 4.

The festival, to be held at Prithvi Theatre and NCPA, will feature eleven original plays, including three in Marathi. The initiative, which was first held in 2004, is the brainchild of noted theatre personalities Shernaz Patel, Rahul da Cunha and Rajit Kapur, under the ageis of their group ''Rage''.

Addressing a press conference here, actress Shernaz Patel said playwrighting is in danger of becoming extinct. Young writers, tempted by television and cinema, are tending to bypass theatre.

Others are concerned that their plays will gather dust on bookshelves. As a result, there are fewer and fewer original scripts. ''How does the young playwright survive and keep his focus, keep honing those drafts, keep dreaming up those plots, keep crafting the dialogues and moulding those fully rounded characters,'' she asked.

''At Rage, we have watched these trends with some interest. And yet, while we are concerned, we are also optimistic. At Writers' Bloc-2, we ask writers to send their full length plays or even a scene. We just want to know if they can write drama. The result has been a deluge of 98 scripts,'' Rahul said.

''The Royal Court Theatre in London has picked eleven most promising writers. There was a 14-day workshop followed by another six months later,'' Rahul informed.

Naveen Chopra, CEO of Hutch (Mumbai), sponsors for the event, said Hutch has partnered with Rage on ''Writers' Bloc-2'' as the company was donning the mantle of a committed patron of the performing arts by truly taking theatre to new heights in India.

All the plays are being staged for the first time at the festival. Ms Juhi Babbar, daughter of actor-politician Raj Babbar and theatre personality Nadira Zaheer Babbar, features in ''Dreamcatcher'' which is about two dancers confined to their hotel room.

UNI