“In a world that seems to get more divisive, controlling and violent, our challenge as theatremakers is to avoid the corruption of theatre solely as a commercial enterprise dedicated to the entertainment by distraction or as the dry institutional preserver of traditions, but rather to foster its strength to connect peoples, communities, cultures and above all to question where we are going.”
—Willem Dafoe, international message author

“Theatre does not provide solutions to global crises. It does something both more modest and more profound: it creates the conditions for intimate encounters. Within the space of a stage, we practice holding multiple truths. And we train in empathy.”
—Moisés Kaufman, U.S. message author

“The life of theatremakers, theatres, and their audiences depends on us working collaboratively towards our united future. We must protect each other’s dignity.”
—Banna Desta, U.S. emergent artist author

NEW YORK CITY: The Global Theater Initiative (GTI), a partnership between Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (The Lab) at Georgetown University, invites theatres, artists, institutions, and audiences worldwide to celebrate World Theatre Day today, March 27. Video recordings of both U.S. messages, along with translations, are now available on TCG’s website and will be shared on TCG’s social media throughout the day.

Each year, a renowned theatre artist of international stature is invited by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) Worldwide to craft a global message marking the occasion. The 2026 International World Theatre Day message has been written by actor and theatremaker Willem Dafoe.

The U.S. World Theatre Day message will be delivered by Moisés Kaufman, an internationally celebrated director and playwright.

The U.S. Emergent Artist message will be delivered by playwright Banna Desta.

Since 1962, World Theatre Day has been celebrated by the circulation of the World Theatre Day Message. The first World Theatre Day international message was written by Jean Cocteau. Succeeding honorees have included Arthur Miller (1963), Ellen Stewart (1975), Vaclav Havel (1994), Ariane Mnouchkine (2005), Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi (2007), Augusto Boal (2009), Dame Judi Dench (2010), Jessica A. Kaahwa (2011), and Anatoli Vassiliev (2016). In 2025, the International World Theatre Day message was delivered by Theodoros Terzopoulos, with U.S. messages by Rosalba Rolón and Adam Ashraf Elsayigh. 

“World Theatre Day is an invitation to gather, to reflect, and to recommit to the power of storytelling. Through the voices of Moisés Kaufman and Banna Desta, we’re reminded that theatre is not only what happens onstage, but what we build together in community,” said Emilya Cachapero, TCG co-executive director of national and global programming, in a statement. “We encourage theatremakers and audiences everywhere to celebrate World Theatre Day and carry forward the transformative power of theatre in shaping our futures.”

To celebrate World Theatre Day, GTI recommends sharing the international and U.S. messages on or around March 27 through online media; tweet about World Theatre Day using the hashtag #WorldTheatreDay; following TCG, The Lab, The Global Theatre Initiative, and ITI on social media platforms for updates and sharing World Theatre Day-related posts; and posting your own message to your network about World Theatre Day, championing the power of theatre to strengthen cultural exchange and mutual understanding across borders.

Willem Dafoe, artistic director of the theatre department at La Biennale di Venezia was among the founding members of The Wooster Group. Based at The Performing Garage in New York (1977-2004), they developed a distinctive approach to avant-garde theatre. He then went on to collaborate with Bob Wilson, Marina Abramovic, Richard Foreman and Romeo Castellucci. In the early 1980s, he also began working in cinema and since earned international acclaim for his versatility across both independent and mainstream films. He has received four Academy Award nominations and was awarded the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival in 2018. His commitment to theatre continues to shape his artistic vision and performance practice.

Moisés Kaufman received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016. He’s a Tony and Emmy-nominated director and playwright whose Broadway credits include Paradise Square (10 Tony Award nominations), Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams (Pulitzer Prize Finalist), The Heiress with Jessica Chastain, 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (wrote and directed, Tony nomination for Best Play), and Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife (Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize). Other productions include: Pulitzer Prize finalist Here There Are Blueberries, Velour: A Drag Spectacular, Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard, Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk Award). He is the co-writer of The Laramie Project and the writer of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. He’s an Obie and Drama Desk award winner and a Guggenheim fellow.

Banna Desta (she/they) is an Eritrean and Ethiopian-American writer for the stage and screen who crafts stories about and for the African diaspora. She is the author of The Abyssinians (Audible); Midnight in Abyssinia (La MaMa’s CultureHub); Red Taxi; Bygone Fruit, which premiered at the 2024 Women in Theater Festival; and Pining, which premiered at Rattlestick Theater and was published in Samuel French in 2019. Her work for the stage has been supported and workshopped by Atlantic Theater Company, the Apollo Theater, National Black Theatre, the New Group and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. She has held residencies at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Art Omi, Marble House Project, and Tofte Lake Center. She was a staff writer for the BET+ series First Wives Club (Netflix Top Ten). She has assisted multiple television series in both the writers room and on set, including FOX’s Filthy Rich, NBC’s This Is Us, and Amazon’s Harlem. She has held fellowships with Sun Valley Writers Conference, Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film and the Gotham Film and Media Institute. She is a writing professor and arts educator at NYU, Rehabilitation through the Arts, and Harlem Children’s Zone.

The Global Theater Initiative (GTI) combines the unique reach of TCG’s international programming with the Lab’s distinctive experience in humanizing global politics through the power of performance. It strengthens, nurtures, and promotes global citizenship and international collaboration in the U.S. professional and educational theatre field. 

International Theatre Institute (ITI)’s mission is to promote international exchange of knowledge and practice in theatre arts in order to consolidate peace and friendship between peoples, to deepen mutual understanding and to increase creative cooperation between all people in the theatre arts.

The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics harnesses the power of performance to humanize global politics, with a signature approach that raises voices rarely heard in Washington, D.C. through compelling, authentic narratives, and engages policymakers, artists, and wider audiences in forums that cast critical issues in a new light. 

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 750 organizations (including member theatres, affiliates, universities) and over 3,000 individual members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year.