India, March 5 -- The Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. To mark the milestone, 10 plays nominated across 13 categories will be staged in New Delhi from 13 to 19 March. This will be followed by the award ceremony on 20 March.

India's biggest theatre festival and the prestigious awards began in 2004, with the late Ravi Dubey as its first Creative Director. In the early years, META's jury directly nominated plays. However, after 2006, a selection committee was established and nominations were accepted from across the country. This process then led to the shortlisting of the 10 best plays. "To make participation more accessible, we began supporting theatre groups that couldn't af...