Curtain up on worldwide celebration of the stage
The curtain goes up on World Theatre Day on Saturday March 27 as a time to celebrate all performance art across the globe.
World Theatre Day was first established in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute to celebrate the art of theatre and encourage people and governments to support theatres.
Various national and international theatre events are organised to mark this occasion.
One of the most important of these is the circulation of World Theatre Day International Message, through which at the invitation of International Theatre Institute, a figure of world stature shares his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace.
It was first held in Helsinki, and then in Vienna at the ninth World Congress of the Institute in June 1961, when president Arvi Kivimaa proposed on behalf of Finnish Centre of the International Theatre Institute that a World Theatre Day be instituted.
The proposal, backed by the Scandinavian centres, was carried with acclamation.
March 27 is the date of the opening of the 1962 Theatre of Nations season in Paris.
World Theatre Day is celebrated in many and varied ways by International Theatre Institute centres, of which there are now more than 90 throughout the world.
Moreover theatres, theatre professionals, theatre lovers, theatre universities, academies and schools celebrate as well.
It aims to ...
To promote theatre in all its forms across the world.
To make people aware of the value of theatre in all its forms.
Enable theatre communities to promote their work on a broad scale so that governments and opinion leaders are aware of the value and importance of dance in all its forms and support it.
To enjoy theatre in all its forms for its own sake.
To share the joy for theatre
with others.
Each year an outstanding figure in theatre or a person outstanding in heart and spirit from another field is invited to share his or her reflections on theatre and international harmony.
What is known as the International Message is translated into more than 50 languages, read for tens of thousands of spectators before performances in theatres throughout the world and printed in hundreds of daily newspapers.
Colleagues in the audiovisual field lend a fraternal hand, with more than a hundred radio and television stations transmitting the message to listeners in all corners of the five continents.
The first World Theatre Day International Message was written by Jean Cocteau in 1962.
He was a French poet,
playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic.
Last year’s message was delivered by Shahid Nadeem, Pakistan’s leading playwright and head of the renowned Ajoka Theatre.
He has been associated with Pakistan Television as a producer and member of senior management.
He was imprisoned three times under various military-led governments for his opposition to military rule and adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
Last year events were held online while this year, as lockdown continues, events look set to follow suit.
One event will see live jazz performed from Birdland, New York, which has played host to some of the world’s biggest stars including Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett and Count Basie.