Message of Director General of Culture and Islamic Guidance Office in Hamedan to 21st Hamedan International Children and Young Adult Theatre Festival

Iran Theatre- Since theater or drama is deeply rooted in religious rituals and customs, and human beings have always made use of dramatic rituals or ritualistic dramas, we can certainly conclude that these attempts are ways of reaching pure thoughts and getting nearer to the God. Therefore, the art and culture practitioners believe that theater is a kind of flying creature with to falcon-like wings of thoughts and emotions. Thus, the artist or creative person working in this kind of culture is obliged to make use of secret potentials in a live and flowing art like theater and fashion some liable and efficient means to educate both others and him using noble divine thoughts of the mankind. Because theater is a kind of art in which the artist and the audience are in a face to face interaction, the artists guide their audience and should be thankful of this God-given gift and employ this incomparable possibility in a creative process.

Of all the artistic forms and fields, theater for children and youth can indisputablybe a perfect mirror showing the cultural and social tomorrows of each society. This kind of theater aims at the identification of the special spectator (in this case children and youth) with the characters and therefore plays significant pedagogical role in children and youth’s psychological, familial, emotional and social interactions. Hence, taking the initiative andfollowing through energetically with the plan of exploiting the knowledge and power of producers of this kind of theater, we can put this particularly proper means into service of goal-oriented education of this future-making generation. However, special attention needs to be paid to the scientific, rational and artistic knowledge of theater for children and youth and most importantly to a mastery and comprehensive knowledge and skill in children’s psychology and theoretical and practical understanding of the art of theater. In the absence of these requirements, the artist can never create lasting and powerful works of art.

The superficial assumption or dangerous myth here is that creating drama for children and youth is an easy task because, as far as we know, children are not fully developed mentally and we can serve them every simplistic flimsy work in the name of theater and invite every novice or inexperienced person into this field of art. However, we should be alert about such misunderstandings and negligence. Thus, the planners, authorities, experts and contributors of the theater festival for children and youthare obliged to have a psychoanalytical understanding of children and youth’s needs and produce theater accordingly. This way, we may be able to prevent repeating boring and overused clichés in plays and performances. Because the unstoppable invasion of numerous and diverse medias and communication means causes continual trouble and distress for our weak children and youth’s theater with the poison of repetition and obsoleteness.

The International Theater Festival for Children and Youth in Hamedan, which has been held for years in this ancient land of culture, art and literature and is the result of intelligent and professional sources, is an excellent opportunity for the passionate and intelligent Iranian artists to enrich their experience, to have believable and strong communications with the audience in this hectic world of uncontrollable medias and virtual realities.

By drawing on the aesthetics, our talented artists should create some kind of works which not only meets the children’s aesthetic and entertaining needs, but also serves them educationally. This is hopefully the result of all these efforts.