For many countries in Europe, World Theater Day 2022, which celebrates the theater arts and their unifying power, is marked by the war in Ukraine. There, theatres are becoming shelters for the inhabitants of their cities, being shelled and reduced to rubble. Millions of civilians are fleeing Russia’s military, which has also unleashed terror against dissidents in its own country. As a social media campaign (#WorldTheatreDay2022) of ITI Germany and Deutscher Bühnenverein, association of German theatres and orchestras, the Ukrainian author Natalia Vorozhbyt gives her message to the World Theatre Day 2022 in front of the picture of the destroyed theatre of Mariupol, Ukraine. The Video will be played in all German theatres on March 27.

“Today, the 60th World Theatre Day, is marked by destruction and terror. With Russia’s war against Ukraine, we are experiencing an escalating spiral of violence with unforeseeable consequences for us all. Our solidarity is with the victims of the war and it is with all those who rebel against it” (Yvonne Büdenhölzer, President ITI Germany).

In their Statement for Peace and a Constructive Dialogue the President and the Secretary General of the ITI refer to the Preamble of the UNESCO Constitution of 1945: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed” and affirm that “Our purpose is to overcome divisions, and to keep the lines of communication wide open between all peoples of the world.” 

World Theatre Day message 2022 by Peter Sellars (USA).