World Theatre Day 2027 is on Saturday

About World Theatre Day

On World Theatre Day, theatre companies, drama schools and community groups put on performances, open rehearsals, talks and backstage tours, and many read out the year's international message to audiences before the show begins. The day is a chance to celebrate everyone theatre depends on, from playwrights and actors to designers, technicians, ushers and audiences.

The International Theatre Institute (ITI) created World Theatre Day in 1961. ITI is a performing arts organization founded in 1948 on the initiative of UNESCO's first Director-General, Julian Huxley, and the writer J.B. Priestley. The date commemorates the opening of the 1962 Theatre of Nations season in Paris, and ITI centers and theatre makers around the world have marked March 27 every year since then.

Each year ITI invites a leading figure, usually from theatre, to write an International Message about theatre and a culture of peace. The message is translated into more than 50 languages and read before performances worldwide. Jean Cocteau wrote the first one in 1962 and Arthur Miller the second in 1963; more recent authors include the Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse in 2024, the Greek director Theodoros Terzopoulos in 2025 and the American actor Willem Dafoe in 2026.

Sources: International Theatre Institute: World Theatre Day, International Theatre Institute: Past World Theatre Day message authors, International Theatre Institute: About ITI. How we check dates.

How to mark World Theatre Day

• Buy a ticket to a local or student production, ideally by a company you have never seen.
• Read the year's World Theatre Day message aloud before a rehearsal, class or performance.
• Gather friends for a table read of a play, with everyone taking a part.
• Volunteer backstage or front of house with a community theatre.
• Try a beginner's improv or acting workshop.

World Theatre Day dates