March 27th is World Theatre Day

“I’m hon­ored to have been asked by the Inter­na­tional The­atre Insti­tute ITI at UNESCO to give this greet­ing com­mem­o­rat­ing the 50th anniver­sary of World The­atre Day. I will address my brief remarks to my fel­low the­atre work­ers, peers and comrades.

May your work be com­pelling and orig­i­nal. May it be pro­found, touch­ing, con­tem­pla­tive, and unique. May it help us to reflect on the ques­tion of what it means to be human, and may that reflec­tion be blessed with heart, sin­cer­ity, can­dor, and grace. May you over­come adver­sity, cen­sor­ship, poverty and nihilism, as many of you will most cer­tainly be obliged to do. May you be blessed with the tal­ent and rigor to teach us about the beat­ing of the human heart in all its com­plex­ity, and the humil­ity and curios­ity to make it your life’s work. And may the best of you — for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments — suc­ceed in fram­ing that most basic of ques­tions, “how do we live?” Godspeed.”

- John Malkovich