The International Theater Institute (I.I.T.) established the celebration of World Theater Day in 1962, and since then every year it has been celebrated by the world theater community on March 27. The Executive Council of D.I.Th. commissions each year an internationally recognized theater personality from a member country to write the message, which is translated into several languages, publicized through the network of the International Theater Institute and its National Centers (more than 90 National Centers and many Affiliate Members) but also theater organizations all over the world, it is read in theaters and broadcast by the M.M.E all over the world.
The first message was written by Jean Cocteau.
From 1962 to the present, important theater figures have contributed their thoughts on theatre, culture and peace through World Theater Day messages, including: Arthur Miller, Laurence Olivier, Jean-Louis Barot, Peter Brook, Pablo Neruda , Eugene Ionesco, Luchino Visconti, Martin Eslin, Iakovos Campanellis (2001), Arian Mnuskin, Robert Lepage, Augusto Boal, Judi Dench, John Malkovich, Dario Fo (2013) and many others.
The author of this year's message is the Egyptian actress Samiha Ayoub.
Samiha AYOUB was born in Cairo. He graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in 1953, where he was taught by playwright Zaki Toulaimat. During her artistic career she participated in about 170 projects, including: Raba'a Al-Adawiya, Sekkat Al-Salamah, Blood on the Curtains of the Kaaba, Agha Memnon, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Although theater productions dominated the majority of her choices, she participated in both film and television productions. In cinema he distinguished himself in many films, such as: The Land of Hypocrisy, The Dawn of Islam, With Happiness, Among the Ruins. He presented many important works on television, the most important of which are Stray Light, Time for Roses, Amira in Abdeen, Al-Masrawiya. He received many honors from many presidents, including Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, as well as Syrian President Hafez al-Assad as well as France's Giscard d'Estaing.
Message for World Theater Day 2023
Samiha AYOUB
To all my friends, theater artists, from all over the world.
I am writing this message to you on the occasion of World Theater Day, and as much as I feel especially happy to address all of you, every fiber of my being shakes under the weight of all we face - theater artists and not only - due to the debilitating pressures and of the mixed feelings caused by the current situation around the world. Instability is the direct result of what is happening today, in terms of conflicts, wars and natural disasters that have had and are having devastating consequences, not only in our material world, but especially in our spiritual and mental peace.
I speak to you today with the feeling that the whole world has become scattered islands, or ships fleeing towards a horizon of thick fog, each of them spreading its sails and sailing without guidance, unable to see anything on the horizon that he should be guiding it, and yet he sails on, hoping to reach a safe haven that will welcome him after long hours of navigating the raging sea.
Our world has never been so closely connected as it is today, but at the same time it has never been so incongruous, and we have never been so far apart, as we are today. Herein lies the dramatic paradox imposed upon us by our modern world. Despite what we see about the convergence in the circulation of news and communication that has led to the collapse of all barriers of geographical borders, conflicts and tensions have exceeded the limits of rational perception and created, within this apparent convergence, a fundamental divergence , which takes us away from the true essence of humanity in its simplest form.
Theater in its original essence is a purely human act, based on the truth of the essence of humanity, which is life. As the great pioneer Konstantin Stanislavsky said: Never enter the theater with mud on your feet. Keep dust and dirt out. Leave your little worries, your quarrels, your little difficulties with your coats—all those things that ruin your life, that take your attention away from your art. When we go up on the stage, we go up with only one human life in us, but that life has the great capacity to divide, transform, and reproduce itself into many lives that we put out into the world, so that it fills with life, blossoms, and spreads. its aromas.
What we do in the theater, as playwrights, directors, actors, stage designers, poets, musicians, choreographers and technicians - all of us without exception - is an act of creating life, which did not exist before we went on stage. This life deserves a loving hand, a loving breast to embrace it, a kind heart to sympathize with it, and a sober mind to give it the reasons it needs to survive and carry on.
I am not exaggerating when I say that what we do on stage is the very act of life, which is created out of nothing, like a burning ember that illuminates the darkness of the night and warms its coldness. We are the ones who give the glow life. We are the ones who embody it. We are the ones who make it pulse and matter. We are the ones who provide the reasons for it to be understood. We are the ones who use the light of art to counter the darkness of ignorance and intolerance. It is we who embrace the doctrine of life, so that life may spread throughout the world. For this reason we dedicate our time, shed sweat, tears, blood and test our endurance to convey this high message, defending the values of truth, goodness and beauty, convinced that life is really worth living.
Today, on World Theater Day, I speak to you not just to say something, nor to honor the generator of all arts, the 'theatre'. I invite you so that we can all be together, hand in hand, shoulder in shoulder, to shout with all our might, as we are accustomed to do on the stages of our theaters, speaking our words in such a way as to awaken the conscience. of the world, in order to seek within him the lost essence of humanity: The free, tolerant, loving, understanding, kind and eloquent man, who rejects this miserable image of brutality, racism, bloody conflicts, one-sided and extreme thinking. Men have walked upon this earth and under this sky for thousands of years and will continue to walk.
Therefore, get out of the mire of wars and bloody conflicts and leave everything out of the scene.
Perhaps then our humanity, clouded by doubt, will once again become a certainty that will make us all proud to be human and brothers, part of humanity.
The mission, of theater people, is to hold the torch of light, from the first appearance of the first actor on the first stage, to be at the forefront to confront what is ugly, bloody and inhuman, comparing it to what what is beautiful, pure and human. We, and no one else, have the ability to propagate life. So let's spread it together for the good of this unique world, this unique humanity.
Samiha Ayoub
Translated into Greek from the English translation of the Arabic original:
Gina Karvounakis, ITI member, Pen Greece – Translation Committee
Photo 12019 / https://pixabay.com
