WEEK-2 Short+Sweet South India Theatre Festival

This 8th edition of Short + Sweet South India is a collaborative effort by Prakriti Foundation and The Blu Lotus Foundation, in association with the Alliance Française of Madras and SPI Edge.

Each show comprises 9-10 ten-minute plays, with an interval.

1. Ramanathanin Kaditham

Director: Ganapathy Murugesan ; Writer: Story: Puthumaipithan | Script: Suraj Raaja

Cast: Karthik Gowrisankar (Ramanathan)

Synopsis: The Rant of an unemployed man in the late 1920s`.

2. Mirror, Mirror, Mayhem

Director: Priyadarshini S ; Writer: Priyadarshini S

Cast: Shylaja Chetlur (Future), Mrithula Chetlur (Present), Lalitha Tejaswini (Past)

Synopsis: "Mirror, Mirror, and Mayhem" is a comedic play where Present juggles her younger and older selves, exploring societal pressures, love dilemmas, and self-doubt amid chaos. Can she find balance between past and future?

3. Under the Bodhai Tree

Director: Dileep Rangan T ; Writer: Dileep Rangan T

Cast: Hans Kaushik - (Dharma (a) Dharmendra), Vinod Anand -(Siddhartha G), Aparna Rajhesh (Nurse)

Synopsis: Siddhartha is a resident of Paradise old age home and Dharma joins in as a new roommate in Siddhartha`s room. A letter is brought by the nurse which changes the course of events in a normal day at the Paradise old age home.

4. Cobra versus Tiger

Director: Sushant Alexander ; Writer: Rex McGregor

Cast: Shibani Naidu (Rochelle Wong), Monisha Sundaresan (Rashida Patel)

Synopsis: A Chinese supermum seeks help from an Indan matriarch.

5. For Crying Out Loud!

Director: Bhavya Balantrapu ; Writer: Bhavya Balantrapu

Cast: Gowthami Ashok (Cop), Shravan Ramakrishnan (Employee), Mona Kakade (Wife), Sukanya Umesh (Reporter), Shreya Ramnath (Singer)

Synopsis: While awaiting the verdict on a case against a sexual offender, his ecosystem introspects on their own experiences. Will this verdict give them their redemption? Hope?

6. A Criminal Mind

Director: Jaytesh Calpakkam ; Writer: Paula Armstrong

Cast: Pragathi (Carter), Raj Bharath (Norman), Swetha Venkit (Woman), Shubhamoy Mukherjee (Man)

Synopsis: Couple is kidnapped, kidnapped gets held hostage, overall revealed that the whole thing was a setup to rekindle the romance of the couple.

7. Seethai Mark Seeyakkaai Thool

Director: Parimala Thangarasu ; Writer: Sundara Ramasamy

Cast: Manibharathi (Subbaiya Aasaari), Smrti (Suppamma), Manikutti (Kumaravel Panikkar)

Synopsis: In 1950s, at Tirunelveli, a lovable couple, banner artist and his wife (Subbaiya Aasaari & Suppamma) living a simple life gets a business order for Rs.10,000. Did the big order gives them prosperity?

8. Dance, Baby, Dance

Director: Mahalakshmi ; Writer: Bhagirathy S

Cast: Bhagirathy (Mulitple), Rathinavel Pandian (Multiple)

Synopsis: Aparna loves to Dance. People around her are not so keen.

9. Purpose

Director: Saikrihpa S V ; Writer: AnandhaKrishnan Janakiraman

Cast: Naresh

Synopsis: Muhammed Ali The Greatest finds His Purpose after his first Defeat and His First Ultimate Win.

10. Maadu Matters

Director: Meera Sitaraman ; Writer: Meera Sitaraman

Cast: V Balakrishnan (Inspector), Ganapathy (Maadasaami), Karthik Gowrisankar (Sub Inspector)

Synopsis: An unreal case that puts real people in a dilemma.

Short+Sweet Theatre is the biggest festival of ten-minute theatre in the world, which started in Australia in 2002, and is now held annually in 7 different countries across 30 cities, including Chennai.