Paradip: The 15th edition of Canfest National Theatre Festival will commence at Jayadev Sadan auditorium in Paradip on Monday.

Plays of different languages will be staged during the week-long festival that will conclude on March 26.

Theatre personality Nadira Zaher Babar from Mumbai and veteran Odia theatre director Lala Biren Roy will be felicitated on the occasion, said Sriman Mishra, secretary, Canmass, a socio-cultural organisation, which is organising the event.

The Ekjute theatre troupe, Mumbai, will stage a Hindi play Yeh hei Bombay Meri Jaan while Odia play Kanta Kanta will be staged by Kadambini group from Bhubaneswar.

Prachyo Troupe from Calcutta, Shadow Theatre Bhopal and Cultural Campaign, Tripura, will also showcase their plays in the festival.

The festival will provide theatre enthusiasts the opportunity to watch creative attributes of theatre groups from across the country, Mishra said.

"Our organisation held the theatre festival on 2004 year with patronage of Paradip port trust on an experimental basis. During initial years, it had failed to attract crowd. Gradually, it became popular. The festival has drawn young audience over the years. As teenagers are showing interest theatre, we have launched a short-term training course for them at free of cost, Mishra said.