World Theater Day
World Theater Day (WTD) is observed annually on March 27. Launched in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), the most important international non-governmental organization in the field of the performing arts, WTD has been observed in a variety of ways since 1962, by ITI National Centers every March 27. It commemorates the day the “Theatre of Nations” season in Paris opened in 1962. WTD is celebrated today by the ITI, ITI cooperating members, theater professionals, theater organizations, theater universities, and theater lovers worldwide. It underscores the value and importance of theater as an art form. The day aims to serve as a ‘wake-up call’ for governments, politicians, and institutions that have not recognized the value of theater to the people and have not realized its potential for economic growth.
Highlight of the annual observance is the dissemination of the WTD Message for the year. At the invitation of ITI, a prominent figure in the field shares his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and Culture of Peace. The first WTD Message was written by Jean Cocteau in 1962. For 2020, the message for WTD was written by Shahid Nadeem, Pakistan’s leading playwright and head of the renowned
Ajoka Theater. The
Ajoka Theatre is a
Pakistani arts organization, which is based in Lahore,
Punjab. Since its founding in 1984, it has focused on social theatrical stage productions.
Nadeem likens the theater to a shrine, noting how in South Asia “the artists touch with reverence the floor of the stage before stepping onto it, an ancient tradition when the spiritual and the cultural were intertwined.” He feels that “it is time to regain that symbiotic relationship between the artist and the audience, the past and the future…that theatre-making can be a sacred act…[and the actors] can become the avatars of the roles they play.” Theater to him, “elevates the art of acting to a higher spiritual plane...has the potential of becoming a shrine and the shrine a performance space.”
Theater has been described as a collaborative art form that combines words, voice, movement, and other visual elements to convey or express meaning to its audience. It embraces live and scripted work and performances, as well as dramatic forms such as television, film, and other forms of electronic media. Nadeem believes that the theater has a “noble role, in energizing and mobilizing humanity to lift itself from its descent into the abyss. It can uplift the stage, the performance space, into something sacred.” This would help replenish our much needed spiritual strength and spiritual and social transformation to enable us to succeed in the fight against apathy, lethargy, pessimism, greed, and utter disregard for the world in which we live.
As we mark WTD 2020, we are enjoined to support our theater artists and professionals who share their talents and skills, their soul, and their passion for the art to weave enriching, positive, and thought-inspiring stories that transcend the political, economic, faith, social, and cultural divides. The theater as an art form is an effective persuasive, consciousnessraising, and action-mobilizing tool, in a world that has been torn apart by apathy, selfishness, and greed, and battered by so much pessimism, and an alarming disregard for the real essence of community, brotherhood, and stewardship of the Earth.