WORLD THEATRE DAY

dkeith dkeith at SILK.NET
Sun Mar 25 11:22:33 EST 2001


Dear Colleagues,

I apologize for the second email, but it occurred to me that some people may not be able to access the attachment I sent earler regarding World Theatre Day. I am including it here for your convenience.

I am thankful that I am able to work and create in a profession I love. Thank you to all my mentors, past and present for their inspiration and encouragement. I am especially grateful for Gaeten Charlebois, who has done so much to promote and document our achievements.

Happy World Theatre Day Everyone.  Keep the faith!


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                          International Theatre Institute

 [Image]               WORLD THEATRE DAY - 27th March  2001

                               International Message

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          [Main Menu] [World Theatre Day - 27th March- other languages] [
                                MESSAGE EN FRANCAIS]
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                    World Theatre Day International Message 2001

                                Iakovos KAMPANELLIS

                                     Playwright
                                      [Image]




        "I believe that Theatre will never cease to exist. I think, even if
        this might sound paradoxical, that this ancient Art is also an Art
        of the Future. Not because of the will of those who create Theatre
        - playwrights, actors, directors - and all the other factors that
        contribute to a performance, but because you, the people, the
        audience, will still want it to exist in the future.

        On what do I base this optimistic prediction about Theatre's future
        ? On the belief that the creation of Theatre stems from a person's
        psychical need, a need that will never be eradicated.

        I invite you all today to share some thoughts that would seem to
        justify my point of view. The fact that Man walked on the Moon
        seems already an old story ! It no longer impresses us that a
        spaceship went to planet Mars and brought back samples of its soil
        !  A huge space station providing accommodation for space tourists
        and young couples on their honeymoon is already under construction
        and spaceships exploring distant planets and sending their photos
        back to Earth are now almost an everyday occurrence !.

        However, although we are living in a time when humanity is
        conquering space, we still continue to go to the Theatre, and find
        ourselves in a space belonging to an Art that has existed and
        functioned with the same simple means, ever since measuring time
        with a sundial was thought to be a great technical achievement. In
        my view, this evident, timeless relation between human beings and
        theatre is an eternal one. This is because I believe that while
        Theatre evolved into a social phenomenon, it was, at the beginning,
        a natural one. Theatre dates from the time that the first human
        beings began to memorize their experiences and represent them in
        imagination, from the time that human beings began to plan their
        actions, imagining how to accomplish them. The first theatre
        company and the first theatrical performances took shape in the
        minds of men and women. Every person has an innate need and ability
        to create performances. Have you ever realized that each of us,
        without exception, has at his or her disposal a private theatre
        company, in which we ourselves play the leading role while at the
        same time being our own audience ? Very often, we are also the
        playwright, the director and the set designer of this company. How
        and when does this occur ?

        Isn't this in fact what we are doing, when, preparing ourselves for
        an interesting or crucial meeting, we imagine the whole scene in
        order to decide how we will behave. Aren't our memories and even
        our dreams, actually performances of our private company ?

        I think, therefore, that Theatre will never cease to exist because
        I believe that men and women will never stop living without the
        agony of self-knowledge, without the existential need to become
        spectators of their selves and their actions, that is to say,
        without those elements of the human psyche from which the Art of
        Theatre emerged, from which it has been re-created for thousands of
        years and from which it will continue to be reborn as long as human
        beings remain the natural fruit of love."

         [original Greek]

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         You are welcome to use the World Theatre Day  texts and photograph
        and to circulate them. When you do so, please include the following
        mention, and, if you display the material on Internet, we ask you
        to add a link to the ITI site on Internet http://iti-worldwide.org

        « WORLD THEATRE DAY was created in 1961 by the International
        Theatre Institute (ITI). World Theatre Day is celebrated annually
        on the 27th March by ITI Centres and the international theatre
        community, various national and international theatre events being
        organized to mark this occasion. One of the most important of these
        is the circulation of the International Message traditionally
        written by a theatre personality of world stature at the invitation
        of the International Theatre Institute. »



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                                        iTi
                           International Theatre Institute
                                UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis
                             75732 PARIS CEDEX 15 FRANCE
[Image]    International TEL : +33 1 45 68 26 50 FAX : + 33 1 45 66 50 40
             In France : TEL : ... 01 45 68 26 50 FAX : 01 45 66 50 40
                            Secretariat: iti at unesco.org

                   [Main Menu] [World Theatre Day - 27th March]
                Copyright iTi Worldwide 1998 [Image] iti at unesco.org



Don Keith
170  Timberline Road
KELOWNA, B.C.
VIW 4J6
250-764-4373
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