TEHRAN – Theater troupes in Tehran and four other provinces have resumed street performances after all cultural activities were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic for over three months, Iran’s Dramatic Arts Center (IDAC) has announced.

Twelve troupes in Tehran will have 48 performances for 10 nights, while other street performances will take place in the provinces of Gilan, Qazvin, Kerman, and Kermanshah.

“Kermanshah is among the so-called ‘red areas’ or regions with higher numbers of coronavirus hospitalizations over the past two weeks, however, four theater troupes are due to have performances with the central theme of warnings against the coronavirus pandemic,” director of the Street Theater Center of IDAC Saman Khalilian has said.

“The performances in Kermanshah will take place at the red lights across the city, where the troupes wearing masks and carrying puppets will perform plays giving messages of warnings against the new virus to the occupants in the cars stopped at the traffic lights,” he added.

The performances will be short in due to the duration that the traffic lights are red but high in numbers.

“Health protocols and social distancing should be observed while watching the plays, and the audience needs to observe all the health protocols during the performances,” he added.

“We hope people will collaborate with us so that we can think of resuming stage theater performances,” he said.

The performance will try to promote the motto “Me, You, Us, Theater, Life, Coronavirus,” and will mostly help entertain people and help refresh their mood.

Earlier, this week, President Hassan Rouhani, in a meeting held at the Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarters, said that the movie theaters and concert halls will resume activities with 50 percent of their capacity on June 21.

However, the president did not mention anything about reopening the halls dedicated to theater performances.

Last week, the Cinema Organization of Iran (COI) announced that the movie theaters in the so-called “white areas” or regions with no coronavirus hospitalizations in the past two weeks are allowed to reopen.

The cinemagoers were told to observe social distancing, while the employees were asked to wear face masks and plastic gloves.

Fever tests before entering the cinemas, frequent sanitization of the halls, and public restrooms, as well as the screening of a video on how to protect oneself from the coronavirus before the feature film are also among the regulations required by the headquarters.

Photo: this fie photo shows a street theater performance from the northern city of Lahijan. (Tasnim/Keivan Firuzei)

RM/YAW