Arts Council to hold Awami Theatre Festival between Sept 18 and Oct 4

The Arts Council is all set to hold the Awami Theatre Festival 2020 from September 18 till October 4, which will be the first major event at the council in the post-lockdown period.

The schedule of the festival was revealed at a news conference on Saturday evening. Arts Council President Ahmed Shah, actor Talat Hussain and others addressed the gathering.

“During these circumstances, people got sick and depressed by sitting at home. A large number of technicians, actors and make-up artists were unemployed. Today, I am glad that Pakistan is in a much better situation,” Shah said, adding that the foremost purpose of the festival was to spread joy among artistes.

According to the schedule, a different play will be staged every day from September 18 till October 4 at 8pm. The first play of the festival is ‘Khala Khayalon Mein’ directed by Pervez Siddiqui while the last play will be ‘Yahi Such Hai’ directed by Zakir Mastana.

Most of the plays at the festival will be in Urdu language, however, there will also be a plays in Sindhi, Memoni, Seraiki and Punjabi languages on September 23, September 27, September 28 and September 30 respectively. The Sindhi play, ‘Khati Aayo Khair Saan’, is directed by Altaf Soomro while M Ali Naqvi is the director of the Punjabi play, ‘Mera Viyah Karao’. The Memoni and Seraiki plays are titled ‘Ghabrayn Jo Na Aye’ and ‘Opra’, directed by Aftab Kamdar and Zahoor Malik respectively.