TEHRAN – The 23rd edition of the International Theater Festival for Children and Young Adults opened yesterday during a ceremony in Hamedan, Iran.

Over fifty theater troupes from Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Czech Republic, South Korea and Iran will compete in the ten different sections of the festival, which will run until December 17.

Several stage directors from Poland, France and Germany are scheduled to hold workshops during the event.

Theater experts Niclas Malmcrona from Sweden, Salvatore Tramacere from Italy, and Bahram Shah Mohammadlu and Ardeshir Salehpur both from Iran have been selected for the jury of the festival.

The jury also includes Leili Rashidi, Hengameh Mofid and Majid Qanad.

The organizers also plan to honor Iranian actor Reza Fayyazi.

An exhibition of photos and posters will be held on the sidelines of this edition of the festival.

In addition, in the reading performance section, the organizers will put a spotlight on plays by Jabbar Baghtchehban.

Baghtchehban (1886-1966) established the first Iranian kindergarten for the deaf, and was the inventor of Persian language cued speech. He wrote several plays and books for children and young adults.

ABU/YAW