TEHRAN – The 18th Resistance Theater Festival announced on Saturday plans to organize its international competition in two countries.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the national competition in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, the festival's secretary, Mehrab Mohammadzadeh, did not mention the countries' names.

“Arrangements for organizing the international competition in the two countries have totally been completed now and the performances will be held in the countries until the end of December,” he added.     

The national competition of the festival will run through Tuesday as fourteen troupes are scheduled to give performances in this category.

The Association of the Revolution and Sacred Defense Theater and the Revayat Foundation are the main organizers of the event.

They have previously said that they organize different sections of the festival in different places to promote “cultural justice”.

“We have tried to recognize a cultural justice more than ever, therefore along with over 500 stage artists we have developed the resistance theater concurrently in different provinces of the country and several other countries,” Mohammadzadeh said.

The 18th Resistance Theater Festival has been in progress since the Arbaeen gathering on September 17 in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala with several performances by street theater troupes.

Yazd and Fars were the Iranian provinces playing host to troupes from the festival.

The script competition of the festival is scheduled to be held separately in the near future. Several workshops will also be arranged on the sidelines, Mohammadzadeh said.

He also added that the teleplay category of the festival will be held with contributions from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on January 3, 2023, concurrent with the third martyrdom anniversary of Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani.

The festival jury of Kurosh Zarei, Farhad Qaemian, Jahangir Almasi, Hossein Mosafer Astaneh and Azita Torkashvand will select the winners in the national competition on Tuesday.

The Association of the Revolution and Sacred Defense Theater and the Revayat Foundation organize the festival and the Resistance International Film Festival every year to celebrate the anniversary of Basij Day, which falls on November 26.

Photo: A poster for the 18th Resistance Theater Festival.

MMS/YAW