World Theatre Day
2 min read
By: Julia Johnson
World Theatre Day is a day of remembrance for how important theatre is and how it was brought to life. This takes place on March 27th. This day was created because of the opening of the Theatre of Nations in Paris in 1962.
This day is a celebration for those who value and appreciate the importance of art in the form of theatre. Many enjoy this day because they get to celebrate at the theatre to put on a show or to simply watch them perform. The actors celebrate throwbacks from childhood to tours of theatres around the world. This would be celebrated by acters from Broadway and National tours that take place. In 1961, it was celebrated first with a message by a well-known world figure sharing their feelings toward the theme of theatre and culture of peace. The first World Theatre Day message was shared by Jean Cocteau in 1962.
In 2022, World Theatre Day had its 60th anniversary, being celebrated in many countries that rejoice their own theatre art style. For example, China has Chinese opera which has over 300 distinctive styles that goes from an ancient art form such as an opera named the drunken concubine. Two other countries that have celebrations are Russia and Japan. Japan rejoices by using the NOH theatre which is described as one of the oldest forms of theatre and usually contains a fan that carried by all the performers in NOH pieces. Russia has an art form tourists may know as a puppet show but is called Puppet theatre. Kids would like to see puppets and see it as an entertainment device, but it is incredibly special in Russia because of their homemade puppets and how they see it as the puppet controls the actor instead because that is where the magic comes from in theatre!
When asked, what does Mr. Jasek think about musicals, and which one would be a favorite to watch? He replied with “I performed in musicals through high school and occasionally thereafter. I don’t often watch musicals, but a few favorite soundtracks of mine are Avenue Q, Blood Brothers, and Hedwig. What’s fun about a musical soundtrack compared to a traditional album is that a soundtrack is more likely to have several genres and performers, so the listener gets more variety from the listening experience.”
When asked if any books were made into a musical or a play what one would you pick and why, Mrs. Wensel replied with “The Phantom of the Opera is my all-time favorite. I was lucky enough to see it at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh about 10 years ago. Dear Evan Hansen, is a newer musical and I have the book in the library.”
