First launched in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute, World Theatre Day is celebrated on 27 March throughout the world. For us it is a good occasion to recall the remarkable traditions of Turkmen theatre laid by the outstanding masters of the stage as well as to think about the future of Turkmen theater basing on its present and on our expectations.

Speaking about it we should mentioned the important meeting of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov with Turkmen cultural workers that focused on the issues of paramount importance to national culture, in particular Turkmen theatre. The main lesson learnt from that serious and exacting conversation was the time to address the current needs, the endeavours and cherished desires of the contemporaries, whose minds and souls the theatre was predestined to inspire had come. The potential to accomplish this task is enormous, there are the professional traditions, the wonderful theatrical family of the people devoted to their profession, giving it their souls, talent and mastery.

Turkmen professional theater is relatively young though it has successfully absorbed the academic traditions of world dramatic art as well as thoroughly transformed them in the national spirit, developed the genuine national concepts basing on the prototype of theatre embodied in the ancient rituals and rites, folklore and art of bagshis – narrators, etc. Today, reaching the new heights of professional duty the theater is to conform to the moral requirements set by development of our society.

In this regard careful treatment of our theatrical heritage and traditions, which enable to preserve the fundamentals of national theater, is of particular significance. Today the theatrical palette is enriched with new names and artistic experiments, the search for new forms of communication with the audience. The theater festivals and contests involving the amateur and children’s theatres are held regularly. The range and scale of the creative contacts with the other regions as well as at the international level are expanded. The success in the foreign festivals brought international recognition to the Turkmen theatres not only from Ashgabat but also from the regions. Last spring Ashgabat hosted the International Folklore and Theater Festival brining together hundreds of the artists from different countries worldwide. The Ashgabat Festival was filled with the o heartfelt meetings, interesting events, artistic discoveries and, undoubtedly, became a vivid page in the history of national dramatic art and culture.

This summer the Union of Theatrical Workers of Russia will organize the II International Theatrical Summer School for young professional artists in the Moscow area. The goal of the large-scale education project is to promote the professional growth of young artists, to establish the creative contacts, to exchange experience (Russian prominent artist and stage directors will deliver the master classes). The artists from Turkmenistan were invited to take part in the project.

I believe we will receive an opportunity to see the spectacles staged by the famous theatres from different countries worldwide and the Turkmen artists – an opportunity to present their best performances to the foreign audience as the prestige of the Turkmen capital as a world’s cultural centre grows. The way to it lies through the talent quest and creative devotion. As at all times love and gratitude of the audience for the dreams and hopes that it presents, for the genuine values that it propagates and establishes, for the wonderful feelings, the faith in happiness, the power of kindness and light remains the main criterion of the success of the theatre.