ASSITEJ Pakistan hosts first programme featuring global theatre artists

Young artists from 11 different countries, with 10 Pakistani theatre makers, collaborated in a cross-cultural workshop

LAHORE: ASSITEJ Pakistan – the national centre for International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People – hosted a ‘Performance Showcase’ as part of the first ever Next Generation Program 2018 in Lahore, last week.

Young and emerging performing artists from 11 different countries, with 10 theatre makers from Pakistan, collaborated in the cross-cultural workshop between February 27 and March 4, stated a press release.

PHOTO: PUBLICITY

According to the organiser of the event, the general secretary of ASSISTEJ Pakistan, the Performance Showcase aimed to provide a steady new platform for budding performing artists from all over Pakistan to liaise and learn from their international counterparts. The foreign artists who flew in included Gillian G Rhodes (USA), Navodini Kaushalya and Sudarshana Bandara (Sri Lanka), Derman Gülmez Aydın (Turkey), Daniela Krabbe (Germany), Anja Pletikosa (Croatia), Shabana Saya (Switzerland), Attila Antal (Hungary), Timofei Tkachev (Belarus), Janessa L Roque (Philippines) and Eliot Moleba (South Africa).

PHOTO: PUBLICITY

After one whole week of learning and sharing, the participants closed the event with two separate theatrical showcases rendered at Peeru’s Café. People from all over Lahore came forth to lend their support of the ASSITEJ initiative and appreciated the efforts the organisation has put into bringing international theatre to the country.

ASSITEJ Pakistan works under the rules and regulations of its main governing body ASSITEJ International and completes its objectives here. In much the same way, ASSITEJ has more than a 100 national centres in numerous countries around the world, working hard for the promotion of theatre and the exchange of culture and ideas between artists from each country.

PHOTO: PUBLICITY

Here in Pakistan, the organisation is a network of five smaller, local organisations namely Maas Foundation, The Little Art, Chota Mota Theatre, Independent Theatre Pakistan and Harsukh. Its Next Generation Program offers new opportunities such as Group Residency and Individual Placements every year, for candidates who aspire to broaden their horizons, hone their craft and ultimately, make a name for themselves in the field of performing arts.

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