By Jamal Saidi
By Jamal Saidi
Morocco World News
Casablanca, June 30, 2012
The twenty fourth edition of the international Festival of University Theater of Casablanca will be held on July 8, 2012. The festival is organized annually by Casablanca’s Ben Msik faculty of Humanities and Letters. The event, which will last a week, features Tunisia as a guest country.
The organizing committee decided to pay tribute to the Moroccan actress, Saida Baadi, and the artist director Fetah Diori who lives in Germany.
In this regard, during a conference organized in a hotel in Casablanca, Abdelmajid Elkadouri, dean of Ben Msik faculty, said that the organizing committee wanted the twenty fourth edition to be a moment of contemplation, especially that it comes in the context of Arab spring which promises a historical shift towards democracy in the region. “We thought of youth that took an active role in altering the political scene,” he said. He highlighted that the committee chose the theme of “Theater, Youth and Society” as reflection of the contribution of the young generation in the democratic change unfolding in the Arab world.
In his turn, Issam Elyoussfi, the artistic director of the festival, pointed out that the current edition aims at creating moments of discovery and opening the doors for youth to express their feelings and exchange their experiences.
He went on to say that the theme mirrors the perception of theater as the ground for international youth to question the reality of their societies in order to shed light on their future choices.
The organizing committee justified its choice of Tunisia as a guest country on the grounds that this part of the Maghreb has known a unique active theatrical experience. In addition, this country has witnessed a radical change which promises a full fledged integration between the Maghreb countries.
Sixteen University theatrical groups from various countries will be performing at the festival, including Ivory Cost, Turkey, Poland, Venezuela, Spain, Mexico, Romania, USA, Libya and Morocco. The Moroccan groups will perform five plays, representing universities from Casablanca and Rabat.
