TEHRAN – The 24th Fajr International Theater Festival was inaugurated at the open space of Tehran’s City Theater on Friday.

Hundreds of artists, writers, experts, and theatrical troupes attended the opening ceremony, in which the messages of Culture Minister Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi and Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel were read out.

Festival secretary Hossein Mosafer-Astaneh also gave a speech, and the bell was rung to begin the street plays.

“Rainy City’s Melody” directed by Hadi Marzban, “Zakariya Razi” by Majid Jafari, “The Proposal” by Azim Musavi, “One Man, One Woman” by Azita Hajian, “Under the Wings of Angels” by Nader Borhani Marand, “Dream of a Photo” by Masud Rayegan, and “Macbeth” by Arash Dadgar are some of the plays to be staged by theatrical troupes from Tehran during the event.

“The Cherry Orchard” from Russia, “Johanna” from Germany, “Waiting for Godot” from Slovenia, “Influence of Medusa” from Hungary, “Whale’s Stomach” from Switzerland, and “Bambie” from the Netherlands are some of the plays that will be staged in the international section of the festival.

Foreign participants are also scheduled to hold professional workshops on the sidelines of the event.

The workshops will be held at the Iranian Artists Forum.

The Japanese troupe Blue Rocks will hold a workshop on plays in which the cast is masked under the supervision of director Izumi Ashizawa.

Another workshop will be held by the Dutch troupe Bambie 8 directed by Liz van der Kleij. They also plan to hold a seminar on developments in theater.

Iranian theater directors will be participating in a workshop focusing on joint international theatrical productions that will be hosted by Dutch choreographer and director Feri de Geus.

A joint workshop of Iranian and Russian actors and actresses is also scheduled to be held by the Russian troupe The Cherry Orchard directed by Victor Galcheoko.

The troupe Horses Rain Ashes directed by Ali Razi, a joint production of France and Iran, plans to hold a workshop focusing on overacting.

Also, a Serbian troupe will hold a workshop on their play “Bread and Play”.

And finally, a workshop on free and modern theatrical techniques will be held by the Hungarian troupe Influence of Medusa directed by Aniko Johanns.

In addition, four Iranian theatrical figures are to be honored at the festival.

The festival will hold ceremonies to honor Jaber Anasori for his lifetime of study and research on Iranian ritual plays and ta’zeih (Iranian passion play), Saeid Keshen-Fallah for his activities in theatrical education, Mohammad Charmshir for his playwriting, and Hossein Kasbian for his lifetime activities in the field of acting.

The festival will continue until January 29.