Thinking Globally, Acting Locally for World Theatre Day

BY Kerry Reid

What are you doing for World Theatre Day?

If your response to that question is, “What the hell is World Theatre Day?” well, you’re not alone. Although initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a non-governmental organization founded in Prague in 1948, awareness of this annual event has been scant in North America in the subsequent decades. ITI’s mission for the day is “to promote international exchange of knowledge and practice in theatre arts (drama, dance, music theatre) in order to consolidate peace and solidarity between peoples, to deepen mutual understanding andincrease creative co-operation between all people in the theatre arts.” Whew!

But you’ve got to start somewhere, and this year, the League of Chicago Theatres and other organizations and artists are working to raise awareness that Friday, March 27, is a day to celebrate the importance of theatre as a part of our shared culture. Deborah Clapp, executive director for the League, notes that World Theatre Day 2009 in Chicago marks the first time any city in the United States has officially participated. “I’m not sure if it’s celebrated in a big way anywhere,” she says.

She found out about it through Nick Keenan and Jessica Hutchinson of New Leaf Theatre Company, who in turn had discovered it through Rebecca Coleman of Vancouver Theatre in British Columbia, which participated in World Theatre Day 2008. Coleman has set up a World Theatre Day blog at http://wtd09.wordpress.com/.

Clapp says that the League, which will have a page up at their web site (www.chicagoplays.com) promoting the day, only found out about the event in late February. “We sat down with a group of theatres and got their input and ideas and said, ‘Let’s just do it.’ Right now, we’re focusing on getting the word out that this is happening.”

Clapp says the League “is encouraging theatres to let their audience know about it, and offer special discounts that night,” They will also encourage local theatres to make a connection with a “sister company” in another country. And there will be a big World Theatre Day party, open to the public, at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division, at 9 p.m. on the 27th, which will be uploaded for the world to see. (Clapp cautions, “That is still very much in the planning stages.”)

Keenan and Hutchinson are helping set up a live-blogged Tumblr feed, where theatres across the globe can contribute photos and videos in honor of the day. You can find it at http://wtd09tumblr.com. Keenan and Hutchinson are also part of what Keenan describes as “an ad hoc group of international twitter buddies” raising awareness of the day. You can contact http://twitter.com/WTD09 to participate.

Finally, every year ITI chooses “a figure of world stature to share their thoughts on the theme of theatre and a culture of peace.” This year’s messenger is Brazilian director Augusto Boal, author of “Theatre of the Oppressed” and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Boal’s message says in part, “Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theatre!” You can read the entire message as a curtain speech for your audiences. The League also suggests having special post-show discussions that night.

And perhaps the most important thing you can do for World Theatre Day is go to a show—and bring some friends.