It’s drama time, folks!

Thiruvananthapuram: Starting today, youth

drama

clubs from across the state will showcase their talent at a theatre festival in the city. The two-day fest is organised by Kerala state youth welfare board.

The fest titled ‘

Youth theatre festival of Kerala

’ will feature 13 teams who have won first prize at district-level competition. Minister for sports and youth welfare E P Jayarajan will inaugurate the festival at

Tagore Theatre

at 9am.

Festival co-ordinator Krishnan Balakrishnan said it is for the first time an attempt is being made to showcase emerging talents from the youth in theatre on a common platform. “Teams from across the state who have exposure at national level and those with debutants are coming together for the fest. More than a competition, this is designed as a venue for exchange of ideas and imbibing each other’s presentation,” said Krishnan.

Each drama will be of 30-40 minutes and entry to the fest will be free. The opening day will have 12 hours of plays. Nine plays will be staged on the first day and the second day will showcase five plays.

The festival co-ordinator said it offers one of the biggest cash prizes for the winners. The team that comes first will get a cash award of Rs 1 lakh. Those winning second and third prizes will bag Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively. The concluding convention will be inaugurated by minister for tourism and devaswom Kadakampally Surendran.

Actor Prem Kumar, festival director Pramod Payyannur and members of youth welfare board will be present. Dhwani, a theatre group of transgender people under Dwaya transgenders arts and charitable society, will stage a play titled ‘Parayan Maranna Kathakal’ on the final day ahead of the convention.

Except for Wayanad, teams from 13 districts will take part in the fest. They made it to the final round through an initial screening. “Many of the teams are collectives of youth who take drama seriously and this is our initiative to encourage them by giving the ideal platform,” Krishnan said.