Theatre artists receive award for their talent at this mega festival in Delhi

The theatre fraternity came together in the national capital for a red-carpet awards gala at the 13^th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) Festival. The theatre extravaganza came to an end on April 19, as the best from the theatre world were awarded at the gala awards night at Kamani Auditorium.
The event was hosted by Vinay Pathak
The annual awards, which recognise excellence in theatre nationally, celebrate the diversity intrinsic to the rich cultural traditions of India.There were around 14 award categories, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dastangoi performance
The jury for the awards included Amal Allana (theatre director and former Chairperson of the National School of Drama), Lillete Dubey (film and theatre actor and director), Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry (theatre director and professor of theatre at the Punjab University), Rajat Kapoor (filmmaker, actor, theatre director and writer), Ranjit Kapoor (theatre, film and television writer-director) and Shobha Deepak Singh (photographer, writer, classical dancer and director of the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra).
Lyric Ensemble Delhi performing
Two plays – 'Nona' and 'Item' – bagged the award for the Best Play. Leading the awards tally, 'Nona' bagged a total of four awards. Eminent theatre veteran, Vijaya Mehta, was conferred the META Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Indian theatre. In a message to META and to theatre artistes as well as audiences, she said, "I am very happy. I love and admire the generation shaping the art world and theatre today. I find them smart, wise and aware – perhaps in a different way from my own generation of the 1950s of the pre and post-Independence period. It is nice to know that young people are recognising and are aware of my work."
Lillete Dubey was also the part of the jury
This year's shortlisted plays were diverse and exemplified the best of India. For a week in the capital's Shri Ram Centre, Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra and Kamani Auditorium, the META festival staged the final 10 nominations of 2018 featuring plays in Assamese, Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Manipuri as well as a non-verbal movement theatre production, with several of these performances running to packed houses.