TEHRAN Some 700 plays have been sent to the Secretariat of the 8th Nationwide Sacred Defense Theater Festival. The festival is to be held in Tehran from May 18 to 24.

According to the secretariat of the festival, 270 of the plays are being reviewed.

The reviewing stage, which started on April 7 will run until April 29.

Houshang Hihavand, the deputy secretary of the festival, said that the presence of a variety of puppet shows, the massive participation of young women playwrights, and the increase in quality and the growth in the number plays are the main characteristics of this year's festival.

The review board of the festival comprises Mohammad Charmshir, Farhad Mohandespour, Ali-Asghar Alizadeh Moqaddam, Esmaeil Shafiei, Mohammad Heidari, Hojjatollah Seyed-Alikhani, Hossein Razi, Mahmoud Farhang and Mohammadreza Alvand.