By Papri Das

Essentially a script writing competition of original, one-act plays in four languages - Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and English - eNatya Sanhita?s specialty lies in the fact that the winning scripts are available online for everyone to read.

With all the buzz about Digital India and how it is going to spark a demand for creatives in media, it is not surprising that even performing artistes are now moving to the digital platform.

A joint effort by Astitva and Mumbai Theatre Guide, eNatya Sanhita was conceived two years back to increase theatre?s digit presence. eNatya Sodh (http://www.enatyachaupal.com) and eNatya Chaupal (https://www.youtube.com/user/eperformers) are their other digital initiatives.

?Theatre is still not present very much in digital format. In the past two years we have been trying to get various theatre related activities to the Internet,? informs Ravi Mishra, the founder of the theater Astitiva. ?There are various one-act playwriting competitions, which are being held. However, post the competition, the scripts don?t get any exposure. There is a huge demand for good scripts across the country. Hence we decided on launching this competition and having the winning scripts available as e-books, which theatre groups can refer to and perform,? he added.

The criteria for selecting the scripts are concept, audience appeal, language and presentation amongst others.

Ravi Mishra and Bhavik Shah

eNatya Sanhita doesn't just stay online but has offline meets and interactions as well. ?This year we are in talks with various places to arrange reading of the winning scripts. Recently, we also did an online play reading of a new play by one of our last year?s winner,? Mishra pointed out.

Their inaugural year brought them overwhelming response, as per Mumbai Theatre Guide co-founder Bhavik Shah. ?This is the second year of eNatya Sanhita. The response in the first year was overwhelming. We had 80+ entries from across the country and few entries from overseas participants as well. The winner gets his work published in an eBook and cash prizes,? Shah added in parting.