Children find place in the spotlight during National Children’s Week
Iran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults is offering free theater performances to working children and children from underprivileged areas of Tehran. during National Children’s Week. The plays “Bastur”, written and directed by Niloofar Rafiei, and “God’s Cookies”, written and directed by Arash Sharifzadeh, are going on stage for groups of children in Tehran on October 11 and 12, the Mehr News Agency reported. The initiative follows an October 8 performance in Qom, a city south of Tehran. The play “I Want to be Born”, directed by Behnaz Mahdikhah, was staged for children from underprivileged areas of the province. Organizers said some of the children were attending a theater performance for the first time.
On Sunday, President Masoud Pezeshkian also addressed a ceremony marking National Children’s Week, urging children and the wider public to stand together. He said no force or enemy could bend or defeat the Iranian nation’s will.
National Children’s Week runs from October 7 to 13 under the slogan “Children’s smiles, the alphabet of the homeland”. Its program guidelines emphasize children’s participation, cultural equity and greater attention to children in underprivileged areas.
They also call for better access to books, the arts, play and other cultural activities.
The free performances are intended to give children greater opportunities to experience theater and participate in cultural life.