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Arts Reporter

All is set for belated World Theatre Day commemorations to be held today at Cyril Jennings Hall in Highfields surbub, Harare.

The day is marked on 27 March every year, and aimed at celebrating the beauty, essence, and significance of theatre arts globally.

This year’s celebrations are being hosted by Edzai Isu Trust and Yambutso Trust in partnership with National Arts Council of Zimbabwe Harare Province and City of Harare.

Some of the supporting stakeholders include Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of Youth, Sport Arts and Recreation, Dendere Arts Trust, Zimbabwe Theatre Association, International Theatre Institute, Zimbabwe Theatre Academy and Together As One.

Event curator for the celebrations, Nyanduri Nyandoro, said the World Theatre Day commemorations were meant to rekindle the vibrancy of community centres as places of theatre and other forms of performing arts.

“The show will be headlined by the launch of a new collaborative play “Spiked Hike” by EDZAI ISU Trust and Yambutso Trust performed by new talent entitled, as written and produced by Tafadzwa Muzondo and directed by Patrick Tembo,” he said.

“There will be complimented theatre, dance, poetry and music performances by guest artists, community artists and high school leaners. Information desks on theatre related services by private, Government and non-governmental organisations will be established to interact with over 500 high school leaners and community members.”

Nyandoro said Cyril Jennings Hall had in yester years hosted family friendly theatre, music and dance shows by the likes of the late Safirio Madzikatire and Paul Matavire, while the likes of nationally acclaimed living theatre legends like Jasen Mphepo started their theatre career at the same venue.

“We are deliberately targeting high schools because the introduction of VPA in the school curriculum requires an increased interaction between leaners and professionals in the arts sector,” he said.

“Celebrating the impeccable power of theatre (including dance, music and poetry) in not only providing employment for young people, but tackling range of social and developmental issues.

“Some of the projected outcomes for the World Theatre Day show include: making theatre for local people with local people, reviving the vibrancy of CJ Hall as an arts venue, eradicating social ills such as drug and substance abuse from high school leaners, to college students, business people, community groups local and national Government representatives, World Theatre Day commemoration is a platform to promote the role of theatre as a social advancement and local development tool.”

Globally the International Theatre Institute (ITI) crowned March 27 as World Theatre Day to remind people across the world of the value and the potential of theatre.

The goals are to promote all forms of theatre in countries around the globe, to enjoy different forms, and to share the joys of the art form with others.

ITI Centres and the international theatre community mark the occasion with different events. Nevertheless, the invitation to celebrate the day is open to everyone.

“A celebration on the day itself or around it can be organized and promoted by anyone and everyone,” reads ITI’s website for World Theatre Day. “Theatres, theatre and dance institutions, theatre and performing arts universities, government institutions, ministries of cultures, theatre and dance makers and theatre and dance lovers all over the world are invited to celebrate World Theatre Day.”

Every year, a World Theatre Day Message is crafted by a different “figure of world stature” and circulated globally.

The first World Theatre Day Message was written by Jean Cocteau, a leading artistic figure, in Paris in 1962.

The World Theatre Day Message for 2023 was written by Egyptian actress Samiha Ayoub.

“I write this message to you on World Theatre Day, and as much as I feel overwhelmed with happiness that I am speaking to you, every fiber of my being trembles under the weight of what we all suffer – theatre and non-theatre artists – from the grinding pressures and mixed feelings amidst the state of the world today,” read a translation of Ayoub’s message, originally written in Arabic.

Ayoub said the wars, conflicts, and natural disasters plaguing the world today not only have devastating effects “on our material world” but also on “our spiritual world and our psychological peace.”

“Our world has never been more closely connected to each other than it is today, but at the same time it was never been more dissonant and farther from each other than it is today. Herein lies the dramatic paradox that our contemporary world imposes on us,” she added.

Ayoub’s message reflects how theatre is a purely human act, and humanity breathes life into the art form.

“What we do in the world of theatre as playwrights, directors, actors, scenographers, poets, musicians, choreographers and technicians, all of us without exception, is an act of creating life that did not exist before we got on stage,” the actress wrote.

In conclusion, Ayoub wrote: “It is our mission, us playwrights, the bearers of the torch of enlightenment, since the first appearance of the first actor on the first stage, to be at the forefront of confronting everything that is ugly, bloody, and inhuman. We confront it with everything that is beautiful, pure, and human. We, and no one else, have the ability to spread life. Let us spread together for the sake of one world and one human.”