About World Theatre Day
World Theatre Day is observed on 27 March for everyone who makes theatre, from repertory actors to folk troupes. The International Theatre Institute, a body set up with UNESCO in 1948, started it in 1962, and each year one theatre figure writes a message that is translated into more than 50 languages and read out before performances. In 2027 it falls on Saturday, 27 March 2027.
Theatre in India runs on two tracks at once. In one, a city group rehearses in a borrowed hall for a two-night run. In the other, a Yakshagana troupe performs all night in a village and packs up at dawn. World Theatre Day belongs to both.
What is World Theatre Day and why is it on 27 March?
World Theatre Day is an annual day for theatre, started in 1962 by the International Theatre Institute, the performing arts body founded in 1948 by theatre and dance figures together with UNESCO. It falls on 27 March every year. ITI describes it as both a celebration and a reminder to governments and institutions that theatre matters and can support itself economically.
The centrepiece is the International Message. Each year ITI picks one theatre figure to write a short address to the world, which is translated into more than 50 languages and read out in theatres before curtain. Jean Cocteau wrote the first one in 1962. The Kannada playwright Girish Karnad wrote the message in 2002, the Indian entry on ITI's list, and built it around the Natyashastra. Later authors include Helen Mirren in 2021, Peter Sellars in 2022, Samiha Ayoub in 2023, Jon Fosse in 2024 and Theodoros Terzopoulos in 2025. If you run a group, reading the year's message before your show is the simplest way to mark the day, and ITI publishes it free.
How is World Theatre Day marked in India?
Drama schools, repertory companies, university theatre societies and state akademis mark it with readings, open rehearsals, free or discounted shows and panel talks. The National School of Drama in New Delhi and state drama schools usually hold events, and many city groups stage short plays in parks or campuses rather than ticketed halls.
The institutions behind most of this are worth knowing. The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy of music, dance and drama, was set up on 31 May 1952 and inaugurated on 28 January 1953 by President Rajendra Prasad at Parliament House. It founded the National School of Drama in 1959, which grew out of the Asian Theatre Institute set up with UNESCO's help the year before. NSD has run Bharat Rang Mahotsav, the national theatre festival, since 1999.
Which traditional theatre forms does India still perform?
India's folk and classical theatre forms are living professions, not museum pieces, though most are short of performers and money. Kutiyattam, the Sanskrit theatre of Kerala, was the first Indian entry on UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, in 2001, and moved onto UNESCO's Representative List in 2008. Intangible heritage simply means the practices and skills a community keeps alive, as opposed to buildings and objects.
| Form | State | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Kutiyattam | Kerala | The only surviving Sanskrit theatre, performed in temple theatres; a single act can run for days |
| Yakshagana | Karnataka | Night-long performance with heavy headgear, painted faces and live percussion |
| Jatra | West Bengal, Odisha | Open-air plays on a bare square stage, with the audience on all four sides |
| Tamasha | Maharashtra | Song-and-dance drama with the dholki, historically performed by travelling troupes |
| Nautanki | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar | Sung drama with the nagara drum, plots drawn from legend and local scandal |
| Bhavai | Gujarat, Rajasthan | Satirical village theatre performed by the Targala or Bhavaiya community |
| Therukoothu | Tamil Nadu | Street theatre during village festivals, mostly episodes from the Mahabharata |
| Bhaona | Assam | Devotional plays from the Ankiya Nat tradition of Srimanta Sankardeva, staged in namghars |
| Pandavani | Chhattisgarh | Solo narration of the Mahabharata with a tambura, made widely known by Teejan Bai |
The modern Indian stage has its own line of descent: the Indian People's Theatre Association from 1943, the group theatre movement in Bengal and Maharashtra, and playwrights such as Vijay Tendulkar, Girish Karnad, Badal Sircar, Habib Tanvir and Mahesh Elkunchwar, whose scripts are still the most performed in Indian college theatre.
What to write on World Theatre Day
Name the show. Theatre people remember who came.
Happy World Theatre Day. I still think about the second act of your last play, the long silence before the door. When's the next one?
Happy World Theatre Day, ma'am. You made twenty nervous teenagers stand still on a stage and mean it. That lesson outlived the play.
World Theatre Day wishes to the person who actually runs the show. Nobody claps for a clean light cue, so consider this the clap.
Happy World Theatre Day. Send me the dates for the next production and I'll get four of us there.
On World Theatre Day, respect to your troupe for keeping the form going through seasons with no audience. May the next season bring full houses and fair payment.
Wishing your company a good World Theatre Day. Here's to sold-out weekends, a rehearsal space you don't have to beg for, and a crew that stays.
Theatre sits close to International Dance Day on 29 April and World Music Day on 21 June, both of which many Indian performing groups mark together. World Poetry Day on 21 March is a natural pairing for anyone who works with spoken text.
How to wish someone on World Theatre Day
A good World Theatre Day message names a play, a role or a night you watched. Theatre people work long unpaid hours, so recognition of the specific work lands better than praise for the art form. Remember the people who are never on stage: light and sound operators, set builders, prompters, backstage crew, and the folk performers whose form has no salary attached to it. For a friend who acts, ask when the next show is and mean it.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is World Theatre Day in 2026 and 2027?
World Theatre Day is on 27 Mar every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is World Theatre Day in 2027?
World Theatre Day 2027 falls on Saturday, 27 March 2027.
Who started World Theatre Day?
The International Theatre Institute, founded in 1948 by theatre and dance figures along with UNESCO, started World Theatre Day in 1962. It is observed every year on 27 March.
What is the World Theatre Day message?
Each year the International Theatre Institute invites one well-known theatre figure to write a short message to the world, which is translated into more than 50 languages and read aloud in theatres before performances on 27 March. Jean Cocteau wrote the first message in 1962.
Has an Indian ever written the World Theatre Day message?
Yes. The playwright Girish Karnad, who wrote in Kannada, was invited by the International Theatre Institute to write the World Theatre Day message for 2002. He drew on the Natyashastra, the early Indian treatise on drama, in arguing for what theatre should still do.
What is the oldest surviving theatre form in India?
Kutiyattam of Kerala is generally described as the only living Sanskrit theatre tradition, with a performance history usually traced back around two thousand years. UNESCO proclaimed it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001, the first Indian form to receive that recognition.
How can a college mark World Theatre Day without a budget?
Read the year's ITI message aloud, stage a rehearsed reading of one act instead of a full production, and open the rehearsal to the campus. A reading needs no set, no lights and no costume, and it gets more students on stage than a polished show would.
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