Local, foreign performers kick off 6th Erbil International Theater Festival

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The sixth Erbil International Theater Festival kicked off on Tuesday in the Kurdistan Region's capital. It will last almost a week and is to include performances of 12 local and international plays.

The organizers, members of Erbil's Artists' Syndicate and various theater enthusiasts, hope this year's attractions will achieve a new level of cooperation between the community and dramatic artists and will help to develop theater as a relevant, living art in the Kurdistan Region.  

"We have better prepared ourselves for this year's festival with seminars and critical discussions on the plays that are to take place," festival supervisor Hiwa Suaad told Kurdistan 24. "Furthermore, we better developed our newspaper, as it has daily updates and developments regarding theater and the festival."

The six-day event will hold the discussions Suaad referenced on multiple days beginning at 10 in the morning. In the evenings, they will stage the plays in Erbil's theater administration hall and Institute of Fine Arts.

Theater performers from all over the Kurdistan Region and Iraq will join visiting artists and ensembles from Germany, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.

Yaseen Barzinji, one of the actors participating, said, "Erbil will flourish further with these kinds of festivals which provide better opportunities for people who want to become artists and also to introduce theater fans to Kurdish plays and artworks. Also, I hope these artistic activities will lead to the establishment of a theater coliseum, which we lack in the Kurdistan Region." 

Actress Dilesoz Mawaty told Kurdistan 24, "This will present a chance for foreign actors and artists to get familiar with the Kurdistan Region and see the level of Kurdish arts and actors." 

The Erbil International Theater Festival will run for a total of six days, coming to a close on Monday night. 

Editing by John J. Catherine