This evening, Writers’ Bloc 4 is to be formally launched — the fourth edition of a wonderful initiative to encourage new writing, which has had an immeasurable impact on the city’s theatre scene.

A decade or so ago, theatre producers and directors, adapting yet another foreign play, lamented the dearth of original playwriting in India — at least in English and Hindi. But what incentives did playwrights have? Very little money, less exposure and often writing in a vacuum with no hope of even getting their work staged. Most of them were self-taught, with hardly any chance for proper training or even mentoring. Some original English plays had emerged from the Sultan Padamsee Award for Playwriting, but that was not enough to fuel a movement, and eventually tapered off.