TEHRAN-The 42nd Fajr International Theater Festival will have a special section dedicated to Gaza, where nine plays on this issue will be performed, the secretary of the festival said at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.

Gaza section is one of the five new sections added to the festival this year. “In total, the festival will have 12 sections,” Mehr quoted Mehdi Hamedsaqayan as saying.

“Due to the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza, we issued a call for plays in support of the Palestinians. We received several street and stage performances on this subject, and finally, nine works were selected to be performed at the festival,” he added.

According to the secretary, “hope, cheerfulness, and empathy” is the motto he has chosen for this year’s festival.

“A total of eight plays from Armenia, Greece, Tajikistan, Iraq, and Italy will take part in the international section,” Hamedsaqayan noted.

“The festival secretariat received about 1,650 works this year. There will be 34 plays in the Iranian Theater Competition. Moreover, 33, 25, and 11 plays will compete in the student, street, and radio theater sections respectively.”

Speaking about other sections, he said that the national identity section deals with martyrs and national heroes such as Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and poet Malik Al-Shu’ara Bahar. There will also be 21 plays competing in the inclusive section with the help of the Welfare Organization and dedicated to people with disabilities, he stated.

The 42nd Fajr International Theater Festival will kick off on February 21 in Tehran.

SS/SAB