NEW YORK CITY: The Global Theater Initiative (GTI), a partnership between Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Laboratory for Performance and Politics (the Lab) at Georgetown University, invites all theatres, individual artists, institutions, and audiences to celebrate the 59th annual World Theatre Day on March 27.

The International Theatre Institute (ITI) Worldwide in Shanghai invited Pakistani playwright Shahid Nadeem to craft an international message in celebration of World Theatre Day. The message has been translated into multiple languages. Read all the World Theatre Day Messages here.

“In a time of rising Islamophobia, Shahid Nadeem’s message reminds us of the sacred, humanizing role that theatre can and must play,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG, in a statement. “We hope this message serves as inspiration to all culture-makers working across borders.”

Nadeem is Pakistan’s leading playwright and executive director of the renowned Ajoka Theatre. Nadeem was born in 1947 in Sopore, Kashmir. He became a refugee at the tender age of one, when his family had to migrate to the newly created Pakistan after the 1948 war between India and Pakistan over the disputed state of Kashmir. He received his Masters in Psychology from Punjab University. He wrote his first play as a university student, but became a dedicated playwright during his political exile in London, when he started contributing plays for Pakistan’s dissident theatre group, Ajoka, a company founded by Madeeha Gauhar, a pioneering theatre activist, whom Nadeem later married. Nadeem has written more than 50 original plays in Punjabi and Urdu and several adaptations of Brecht’s plays.

In addition to sharing World Theatre Day messages, TCG and GTI encourage theatre artists and organizations to recognize World Theatre Day by signing up to receive TCG Action Alerts.