World Theatre Day 2024: Date, history, significance

American playwright Eugene O’Neill once said, “Theatre is a way of seeing life more honestly” and the medium has indeed been one of the greatest of all art forms especially in India and its college circuit where despite the popularity of multiplexes, movie theatres and other avenues of entertainment, theatre continues to thrive, through dramas, street plays and some of the best actors we see on the silver screen today are those who have wet their feet at the altar of theatre before graduating to films. Did you know the first plays took place in the Theatre of Dionysus, situated in the Acropolis in Athens during the beginning of the 5th century and from there, the theatres became so popular that they spread all over Greece?
World Theatre Day is celebrated every year on March 27.
In 1961, the International Theatre Institute (ITI) proposed that there should be a day every year to celebrate the importance of theatre. Every year on this day, a certain message is spoken about by a renowned theatre performer.
The first message in 1962 was spoken by Jean Cocteau and ITI has more than 85 centers all over the world. While people usually consider the acting and narration of a story as a play, there are multiple elements like the writer, director, actors, sound producer, costume designer, light and set designer, show caller and more who works tirelessly to successfully execute the entire performance.
World Theatre Day is observed to generate awareness about the importance of theatre in our life as theatre is an art form which comprises live performers, actors, props and more but nowadays, with the advent of movie halls and platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, the importance of theatre is not the same as it used to be before. The World Theatre Day started as a movement, but later on it was celebrated to give a fresh direction and meaning to life as theatre has a pertinent role to play in one’s life with its healthy effect on a person and the society, since most of the themes have a strong bonding with the real life events.