“In this age where people are confined to TV, mobile and their homes, the efforts of the President Arts Council Muhammad Ahmed Shah to bring everyone together under one roof is commendable. Art is the greatest weapon in the world and for its promotion, Arts Council’s services are commendable and credit goes to Ahmed Shah,” said Provincial Minister for Culture Sardar Ali Shah in his speech on the inauguration of the Karachi Theater Festival 2020. “The students of the first semester of Arts Council’s Theatre Academy have given an outstanding performance in street theatre and in view of their hard work and dedication, I would like to announce a prize of Rs. 200,000 as an incentive ” Shah added. The Minister of Culture further said that the citizens are tired of watching the same news every day and by normalizing street theatre we can bring a new change. Speaking to the audience at the festival president Arts Council Mohammad Ahmed Shah said, ” Sadly the theatre culture could not flourish in Pakistan, we organized theatre festival to keep the tradition alive”. It should be noted that the entertaining Karachi Theatre Festival consisting of 24 exciting new theatre plays, performances, interesting discussions, debated and 3 interactive workshops. Further Ahmed Shah said that the artists of the Theater Academy of the Arts Council will perform a street theatre every day. People have been confined to their homes for six months we cannot deprive them of happiness. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be followed strictly throughout the festival. One show will be staged twice each day. Viewers will be allowed to sit in the hall with the gap of one seat. On the occasion theatre practitioner of Arts Council’s Theatre Academy, Afreen Sehar said that Street theatre is the oldest form of theatre and back then it was used to express the vision of society. The annual festival began with the street theatre play “Safar” directed by Afreen Sahar. Later, the play “Heer” by Zain Ahmed was performed on stage.
