The Story
OrganizerShort+Sweet originated in Sydney in 1998 as a competition format for 10-minute plays, with the constraint that short plays force theatrical economy and invention. The format travelled globally and reached Chennai in 2011, where it found an active English-language theatre community with a tradition of both serious drama and experimental performance. The festival's expansion to national and international entries in 2014 reflected the scale and quality of submissions the Chennai edition was attracting. The South India branding reflects an ambition to serve Tamil Nadu's and South India's English-language theatre ecosystem rather than just Chennai city.
Short+Sweet is the primary formal platform for short-form English-language theatre in South India, providing a competitive and developmental framework for playwrights, directors, and performers who would otherwise have few structured opportunities to present short original work. The 10-minute constraint is genuinely productive: it forces theatrical precision that full-length play formats do not require.
South India's primary competitive platform for short-form English-language theatre, connected to a global network of 30+ cities, providing structured developmental and competitive opportunities for playwrights and theatre makers.
