Shahram Karami revealed the presence of several young playwrights at Fadjr 2025

He said that the most important criteria in selecting plays are the subject, structure, and creativity of the author, and a good consensus has been formed for introducing the selected works in this section.

 

Karami stated that the playwriting section has been a part of the festival for more than two decades: "The goal of the playwriting section is to pay attention to the fundamental part of theater art, and what has happened in these two decades has been to create an opportunity for the introduction of young artists. I consider this section a necessity of the festival. When the Fadjr International Theater Festival includes a different audience group and inclusive forms and methods such as street, environmental, student, and even welfare or provincial theaters, paying attention to the fundamental part of theater art- playwriting- is a necessity and very important."

He added: “It is interesting that in the field of playwriting, There are the fewest events and awards, and the opportunity for support and participation of playwrights is limited. This section should be held with a professional approach and with attention to students or young and novice writers but it’s another thing and I think the time comes to pay attention to organizing it differently.”

 

The artist talked about the number of works that the Fadjr secretariat received: “The jury studied three hundred and fifty plays in this section. Considering the conditions of participation in the competition, these works were presented as new productions by playwrights. Most of the novice and young playwrights and a number of well-known playwrights participated in the competition.”

Karami added: "Our group had three months to study and evaluate the works, and if I were to present my own assessment, I thought that forty-four plays were capable, and I even insisted that all of these works be accepted without any restrictions, even if the group score and summary reached sixty candidate plays. But the secretariat insisted that ten to fifteen plays with the highest group score be introduced. This number means that the quality of the submitted plays was satisfactory."

He went on to say: "We received a variety of plays, including traditional, indigenous, experimental, comedic, and even modern works, making it difficult to compare them. Our most important criteria as jury members were the subject, structure, and creativity of the author, and I think there was a good consensus about the works. Several young writers had written very good plays."
 

The 43rd Fadjr International Theater Festival runs January  22 -February 1, 2025.