Publishing 22 one-act plays together is quite a feat.Instead of running after big names, I have tried to encourage young talent. Since we have an outlet, taking a risk was no problem. Some budding playwrights come to us or we keep an eye on the dramatics' competitions in the city.Yogesh Soman, who wrote the 22 plays, won the state-level Purushottam Karandik, and we have sent Nitin Chavan's plays for printing, he won the Firodia Competition recently. Soman's plays are wonderful, especially Gandhi Kadhi Yenaar, Involvement Fantasy and The Ring Again.Why did you decide to publish plays exclusively?We started the Paresh Agency in Pune in 1989, with a view to popularise Marathi literature. We market books on a range of subjects from different publishing houses, but under our own banner, Abha, we have specialised in publishing plays. When we started off, I observed that there was a vacuum in this niche. People want to watch or read plays but often they don't get an opportunity.We received an encouraging response. Today, we have a stock of 3,000 plays - classified into social, historical, mythological, rural, farcical, comedies and mysteries. We get enquiries from all over the country and from Indians living abroad, who know that a copy of a good Marathi play can be procured from us.What does today's reader desire of Marathi literature?He/she rejects the traditional, stereotypical, elaborately-written plays. Something more contemporary is looked out for, a relevant issue narrated fluently, written with a light but effective hand. Hence one-act plays have become very popular.Metro-dwellers generally prefer crisp social comedies, while the mofussil regions go in for more gut-level, entertaining plays. Tastes differ from place to place. A resident of Canada or USA will prefer the high-brow Vijay Tendulkar, whereas somebody from Sholapur likes a simple tamasha or vagh.How about royalty, marketing and payments.We only publish the book. If somebody wants to enact a particular play, they negotiate with the author. For new entrants, we don't print an ornate hard-bound edition (costing Rs. 50), but a convenient booklet, which cost around Rs. 15. Such booklets can easily be picked up by readers, actors and dramatists. We are working on better presentation in this price range.Any new ventures?A new idea we are working on is a book of skits for children. Writer Vidula Kudekar has designed some 10-minute skits to teach children how to enact and present something on their own. The skits are couched in simple language, actions and songs and are very much in demand, since more and more schools are introducing the `play method' of teaching. We always try to promote subjects the readership wants.
