Message for World Theatre Day, March 27, 2026
World Theatre Day falls on March 27th every year and has been celebrated since 1962. The International Theatre Institute (ITI) organizes World Theatre Day celebrations. This year's message is written by American actor Willem Dafoe.
Although I am best known as a film actor, I am a theatre-bred at heart. From 1977 to 2003 I was a member of the Wooster Group, with which I created and performed original productions at The Performing Garage in New York and toured the world. I have also worked with Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson and Romeo Castellucci. I am currently the Artistic Director of the Venice Theatre Biennale, and this appointment, combined with current world events and my desire to return to theatre, has reinforced my belief that this artistic discipline has a unique positive power and significance.
In my humble beginnings with the Wooster Group in New York, we often had a handful of people show up for a performance. The rule was often that if there were more performers than spectators, we could cancel the show. But we never did that. Many of the members of the company had no formal training in the arts; they were people from different backgrounds who came together to make theater together. So it's not exactly our motto to say that "the show must go on," but we felt obligated to meet the audience.
We often rehearsed during the day and performed the material in the evening as a work in progress. Sometimes we would spend years working on a new show, while touring older shows in between. Working on one production for many years was often tiring for me, and rehearsals were somewhat demanding, but performing works in progress was always exciting – even if the meager attendance was a merciless testimony to how little interest there was in our work. I realized that no matter how few people were sitting in the auditorium, the audience watching gave the theatre meaning and life.
As the sign in the playroom says: "THE ONE WHO COMES WINS." One of the strengths of theater is undoubtedly the shared experience of a creative process in real time, which, although it takes place according to a predetermined plan, is different every time. From a social and political perspective, theater has never been as central to our understanding of ourselves and the world as it is today.
The obvious problem today is new technologies and social networks that promise to connect, but seem to have alienated and isolated people from each other. Although I personally do not have any social networks, I use a computer every day. I even Googled myself as an actor and asked about artificial intelligence. One would have to be blind not to see the threat that human contact will be replaced by relationships with machines. As much as some technologies may serve us well, we do not know who is standing at the other end of the communication channel, which contributes profoundly to the crisis of truth and reality. As much as the Internet can raise questions, it rarely evokes the sense of wonder that theater creates. Awe based on attention, engagement, and the spontaneous togetherness of those present in the circle of action and reaction.
As an actor and theatre maker, I continue to believe in the power of theatre. In a world that seems increasingly divided, controlled and violent, we must strive to ensure that theatre does not become a purely commercial enterprise dedicated to entertainment and distraction, or a dry institutional preserver of traditions. We must support its ability to connect people, communities, cultures, and above all, to ask questions about where we are heading…
Quality theatre challenges our thinking and encourages us to imagine what we want to achieve.
We are social creatures and biologically designed to interact with the world. Every sense organ is a gateway to encounters that help us better define who we are. Theatre, as a complex art form, allows us to see what was, what is, and what our world could be through stories, aesthetics, language, movement, and scenography.