Theater is for everyone, and yet it doesn't reach everyone. Sometimes it doesn't reach adults because, as children, they didn't have the opportunity to fall in love with theater. Other times, it doesn't reach children because the adults around them aren't interested in theater. It doesn't reach children because adults have other priorities or because there are obstacles to access.
Due to its in-person and interactive nature, theater is limited in its numerical capacity to reach spectators. But once the audience is there, breathing the same air as the performers, it has an unlimited capacity to communicate the essential, the mysterious, the real, and the possible.
Therefore, we artists must take care of the work we create, to ensure that each stage encounter is an opportunity for the audience to become more curious and more interested, and perhaps even fall in love with what the theater offers them.
For the next three years, we ask all ASSITEJ members to join the "Take a Child to the Theatre Today" call. This call is part of one of ASSITEJ's core goals: to ensure that every child and young person has access to theatre. But we cannot do it alone. We recognize the need to work with those who have the power to decide whether children and young people can participate in a theatre experience. We ask governments, educators, large and small businesses, and individuals from all corners of the globe to respond to this call. We ask ASSITEJ members and centers to actively work to involve them and enlist their support in practical and innovative ways.
Because as we say "Take a Child to the Theater Today," especially on this very special day, March 20th, we hope our call to action resonates every day of the year, so that every child and young person, everywhere, has the opportunity to fall in love with the theater.
YVETTE HARDIE
