World Theatre Day (March 27): History, Significance, Celebration, Wishes and Quotes

Photo: English News Portal

World Theatre Day: History and Significance

World Theatre Day was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute ITI. It is celebrated annually on the 27th March by ITI Centres and the international theatre community. Various national and international theatre events are organized to mark this occasion. One of the most important of these is the circulation of the World Theatre Day Message through which at the invitation of ITI, a figure of world stature shares his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace. The first World Theatre Day Message was written by Jean Cocteau in 1962.

Ever since, each year on the 27th March (date of the opening of the 1962 "Theatre of Nations" season in Paris), World Theatre Day has been celebrated in many and varied ways by ITI Centres - of which there are now more than 90 throughout the world. Moreover, theatres, theatre professionals, theatre lovers, theatre universities, academies, and schools celebrate it as well.

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 audio-visual 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.

World Theatre Day: Celebration

Photo: Novinite

The International Amateur Theatre Association embraces and urges celebration of World Theatre Day. Your celebration can be simple or complex. Here are a few ideas.

• Go see a play and take a friend

• Offer backstage tours of your theatre to the community

• Collaborate with other theatres to offer free tickets

• Host a World Theatre Day reception after a show

• Gather a group to write and stage a play in 24 or 48 hours

• Pay tribute to a playwright

• Organize a theatre festival

• Write, videotape, record, or blog why you love theatre

• Announce World Theatre Day on Facebook

One show that we recommend is Top Hat. If you can’t watch it at a theater near you, you can always watch the film! Irving Berlin is deemed one of the greatest ever songwriters in American history by a lot of people. The composer and lyricist lived a long and colourful life and the world was lucky enough to be blessed by his phenomenal talent.

When he passed away in 1989, at the grand age of 101, his legacy certainly did not die. Many still celebrate his achievements today and there is no better example of this then Top Hat the Musical. Top Hat the Musical achieved massive success. A lot of this success has derived from the incorporation of Berlin’s music. After all, he did write the original songs that were incorporated in the 1935 original film featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.

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World Theatre Day: Messages and Quotes

Interesting quotes for World Theatre Day

"Acting is a sport. On stage, you must be ready to move like a tennis player on his toes. Your concentration must be keen, your reflexes sharp; your body and mind are in top gear, the chase is on. Acting is energy. In the theatre, people pay to see energy." -Clive Swift

"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being." -Oscar Wilde

"I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances." -W.S. Gilbert

"Everything happens every night for this audience, and it's a very special occasion to come to the theatre." -Roger Rees

"Theatre is the art form of the present: it exists only in the present, and then it's gone." -Simon McBurney

"Theatre is a sacred space for actors. You are responsible; you are in the driving-seat." -Greta Scacchi

"All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed." - Seán O'Casey

"Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to."

- Willem Dafoe, American actor

"The theatre is a spiritual and social X-ray of its time."

- Stella Adler, American actress

The more you go to a theatre and the more you hear stories you aren't necessarily familiar with, the more open you become.

- Lynn Nottage, American playwright

Acting is a sport. On stage you must be ready to move like a tennis player on his toes. Your concentration must be keen, your reflexes sharp; your body and mind are in top gear, the chase is on. Acting is energy. In the theatre people pay to see energy."

- Clive Swift, English actor and songwriter

World Theatre Day: Messages

Photo: CronJ

If you are an amateur actor, it is always advisable that you go for the theatre rather than going for the television because a theatre is where you will be able to enhance your skills.

_A role in a television soap or in a movie will make you rich but a theatre will make you more skilled.

_If you want to get better in acting, a theatre is the place you should be at.

_A theatre is definitely the place where if you work, you will be able to get better in your acting skills.

_A theatre is the live business while the movies and soaps are the recorded and manipulated versions of the acting business.

_Theatres are more nerve-wracking than shooting for movies because, at theatres, you can see the expression of the audience and get an idea if they are liking your performance or not.

_In theatres, you are being judged continuously while you are performing and that is a really frightening experience.

_The difference between performing in theatres and shooting for movies is that in theatres you get only one chance to show the audience what you have got but in movies, you get to take as many shots as you want.

_If you want to judge a performance in a theatre, judge it on the basis of its capability to change your thinking process.

_I like the fact that every performance in the theatre is live and not recorded as it brings a different kind of happiness to the audience and makes them feel more alive.

_Unlike in a movie, a performance in a theatre is not a one time wonder,and for you to shine in a theatre, you have to deliver your best every time.

_The theatre has something for everyone and everyone can enjoy it.

_There have been times when the theatre has been compared to a train, and like anyone can jump into any carriage of the train, anyone can dive into the fun of a theatre.

_The sorrow,plight, happiness and helplessness expressed by the actors in theatres are a reflection of what we go through in our lives.

_It is surprising how people remember theatre performances better than real life incidents.

_My grandparents often tell me how popular theatre used to be in their days.

_When my grandparents were young, the theatre was their Inox and PVR movie halls and they used to bunk college to go to theatres.

_Back in the days, the theatre was as popular as the Starbucks of this generation.

_The plays in the theatre often say out loud the emotions and feelings that we feel but cannot say.

_Theatres are a very important part of the world of art and entertainment.

_In my opinion, if you want to be a good actor, you should first go for acting in theatres and then move to soaps and movies.

_I would like to wish all the best to all the theatre artists across the world.

_Here’s to showing appreciation and love to all the artists and actors of the theatre.

_Let us all wish the actors of the theatre all the best and thank them for entertaining us.

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