Managed by Rahul Da Cunha, Shernaz Patel and Rajit Kapur, theatre company Rage presents its second edition of the Writer’s Bloc Festival in association with Hutch. The festival which provides a platform to original Indian plays is being supported by the Jindal South West Foundation and by the Royal Court theatre, UK. Alongside plays there are events such as staged readings, platform performances, a competition for reviewing plays, etc that have been planned.

Following is the detailed information concerning the festival:

EPILOGUE
Duration: 1hr 25mins, no interval.
Written by Maia Katrak.
Directed by Rajit Kapur.

Tuesday Jan 9th
Prithvi, 6:00 & 9:00 pm.

Sunday Feb 4th
NCPA Experimental, 7pm.

Bio: Maia runs her own design and ideas shop, The Republic, in Mumbai. She has a published volume of verse to her credit and has co-written the critically acclaimed film Let's Talk. EPILOGUE is her first play.

Synopsis: This is a universe unlike any we know. The rules of physics do not apply. The concept of time does not exist. Dead men walk. Ghosts are haunted. Dreams have a terrible power. But even in this twilight place, we find signposts from our own world: Humour, deadlines, sex, stories, flatulence. And above all, the deeply transformative power of love.

Cast: Sohrab Ardeshir, Shernaz Patel, Nadir Khan, Meher Acharia-Dar,
Mukul Chadda, Neil Bhoopalam.
Produced by Rage.

AALTOON PAALTOON (Marathi)
Duration: 1hr 30mins, no interval.
Written by Irawati Karnik.
Directed by Adwait Dadarkar.

Wednesday Jan 10th
Prithvi 6:00 & 9:00 pm.

Saturday Feb 3rd
NCPA Experimental, 7:00 pm.

Bio: Irawati Karnik has been an integral part of the Marathi experimental theatre movement in Mumbai for the past three years…as a playwright (Vadani Kavala Gheta, Teech Ti Diwali, Palkhi among others), a director (Khel Mandiyela and Dharmaputra) and an actress (Alvida).

Synopsis: A rainy evening. A costume shop. Two strangers...Niranjan and Rama...meet. He is 23, she is 50.

What is she looking for? What does he want? Where will they take each other?

Aaltoon Paaltoon is the story of their one night together...an exciting, volatile and unnerving night in which they are forced to confront and reexamine their social prejudices, beliefs and taboos.

Cast: Aditi Deshpande, Subodh Khanolkar, Ketan Karande.
Produced by Awishkar.

DREAMCATCHER
Duration: 1hr 35mins, no interval.
Written by Vijay Nair.
Directed by Trishla Patel and Faezeh Jalali.

Thursday Jan 11th
Prithvi 6:00 & 9:00 pm.

Thursday Feb 1st
NCPA Experimental, 7:00 pm.

Bio: Vijay Nair is a Bangalore based playwright and novelist. His published works include The Gloomy Rabbit and other plays (2003) and Master of Life Skills (2006). He was awarded the Charles Wallace Award in 2005 and was writer-in-residence at the University of Kent.

Synopsis: Two dancers confined to a hotel room.
Unforeseen riots. Untold stories. Unbearable truths.
Presenting Padmaja and Vanaja Chari.
Who is your Dreamcatcher...

Cast: Juhi Babbar, Pravishi Das, Shreyas Pandit, Diya Correa, Manavi Mehrotra.
Produced by Rage.

CENTRE OF GRAVITY
Duration: 1hr 20mins, with interval.
Written by Rajiv Rajendra.
Directed by Vikranth Pawar.

Friday Jan 12th
Prithvi 6:00 & 9:00 pm.

Friday Feb 2nd
NCPA Experimental, 7:00 pm.

Bio: Rajiv Rajendra balances his profession, banking, and his passion, writing. He currently lives in Sri Lanka and travels extensively, especially through natural and concrete jungles.

Synopsis:Three friends meet on the eve of an occasion, the bond between them tested through their relationships with the two exceptional women who have inhabited their lives. Into this melee walks an uninvited guest: Isaac Newton, a scientist of an era past who tries to find, then move, the Centre of Gravity of each relationship.

As the evening gathers momentum, would the original Laws of attraction hold enough to strengthen the bonds, or would the cords of friendship be frayed by the strain of expectation?

Cast: Samir Soni, Zafar Karachiwala, Sohrab Ardeshir, Devika Shahani Punjabi, Vikrant Chaturvedi, Suchitra Pillai.
Produced by Rage.

THE EDGE
Duration: 1hr 30mins, no interval.
Written by Manjima Chatterjee.
Directed by Akarsh Khurana.

Saturday Jan 13th
Prithvi, 6:00 & 9:00 pm.

Wednesday Jan 31st
NCPA Experimental, 7:00 pm.

Bio: Manjima Chatterjee is a freelance editor based in Delhi. She works with a voluntary organization called The Kutumb Foundation and sings with its band, Manchalé. Her first play, Wave, was produced by Kutumb in July 2006. This is her second play.

Synopsis:In a dark corner of a dilapidated old building in Kolkata, a woman waits to meet her destiny, as a city has an unexpected tryst with terror…

Rimi Mazumdar has everything – beauty, the job she wants, a husband who loves her and an ex-lover waiting to reignite the flames. Until, one day, she wakes up on the edge of sanity, realizing that a step in either direction will destroy her and the life she has known so far.

Cast: Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Shaun Williams, Dilshad Edibam, Adhir Bhat.
Produced by Akvarious Productions.

MAZYA VATANICHA KHARA-KHURA (Marathi)
Duration: 1hr 20mins, no interval.
Written by Manaswini Lata Ravindra.
Directed by Satish Manwar.

Sunday Jan 14th
Prithvi 6:00 & 9:00 pm.

Thursday Jan 25th
NCPA Experimental, 7:00 pm.

Bio: A theatre graduate from Lalit Kala Kendra, Pune University, Manaswini has written two plays Cigarettes and Alvida which have both been staged by Lalit Mumbai. In 2006, she attended the Royal Court Theatre’s young playwrights’ programme in London.

Synopsis: This is the journey of a play. Of the people entwined in it. An established director and a struggling writer unravel the private life of an actor and an actress and in the process each of them discovers their own truth. But whose play is real? The Playwright’s? The Director’s? Or the Actors’? Or is it just each one’s share of the truth?
Produced by Lalit Mumbai.