Dubai: Preparations for the 12th edition of the ‘Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre’ are under way with new awards to be launched to celebrate artistic talent, it was announced.
The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts, heritage and literature, said the 2018 edition will take place in the beginning of October at the theatre of the Culture and Science Symposium in Dubai.
The authority also announced that it will be organising a number of workshops in preparation for this annual local theatre event that cater to young people.
This year’s festival will be held under the theme ‘Year of Zayed’ to embody the values of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan such as wisdom, respect, sustainability and human building. By educating and preparing the youth for the future, the festival would also be educational in nature.
Fatma Al Jallaf, manager of Theatre Section and head of the Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre at Dubai Culture, said they endeavour to present everything that is new and innovative to enrich the theatrical movement locally and globally.
“The festival has earned an appreciable position for the important role it plays in exploring and developing talent, and in finding real opportunities for it to enter the world of performing arts,” she said.
The annual event aims to highlight the creativity of theatre groups in the UAE, and provide a platform to identify the talents and potentials of actors, directors, authors, decorators, producers, makeup experts, sound engineers, visual displays and lighting, and fashion designers.
In this edition, a group of aspiring young people will reveal their creations to a wide audience of fans, professionals and theatre enthusiasts from the general public, she added.
Three workshops
Dubai Culture confirmed that three specialised workshops will be organised in cooperation with a number of partners in the performance arts sector in which the public can participate.
The ‘Dubai Folklore Theatre’ will hold a workshop entitled ‘Theatrical Theatre’ from August 1 to 30, and another under the name of ‘Preparation of UAE literary novels and converting them to theatrical scripts’ from August 26 to September 6. Dubai Al Ahli Theatre will organise the ‘Theatre Directing’ workshop from August 1 to 30.
To participate in the workshop, people can send an email to dfytworkshops@dubaiculture.ae.
