Abdul Rahim Al-Siddiqi, Director General of the Center for Theater Affairs of the Ministry of Culture, met yesterday with the heads of local theater groups to discuss Qatar’s participation in the Gulf Theater Festival for local theater groups in Gulf Cooperation. Council, which is scheduled to be held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The meeting also discussed the obstacles faced by the groups and ways to develop Qatari theater. In statements, Al-Siddiqi said: The objective of this meeting is to establish the general framework for the theater season during the coming period, where some visions and future plans were presented, including the preparation of teams for local and international participation, and Obstacles faced by civilian companies were also addressed.
Al-Siddiqi said: The Center for Theater Affairs is constantly following developments related to the Qatar National Theatre, noting that in the recent period there have been meetings between Qatar Museums and the Public Works Authority to discuss the start of the works. restoration work on this great cultural building. , so that it appears with a new appearance in line with the location of the Qatari Theater in the Arab and Gulf countries. He stressed that the temporary suspension of the Qatar National Theater stage is not an obstacle for groups to present their creativity, since there are many theaters ready to receive theatrical works, such as the Dramatic Theater of the Cultural Village Foundation (Katara). As well as the Scout Theater, valuing the great cooperation that theaters show with the Ministry of Culture, in order to create a cultural and creative movement and support the local artistic movement.
The Director of the Center for Theater Affairs indicated that preparations for the new season include preparing to participate in the activities of (Darb Al Saai), as part of the country’s National Day celebrations, highlighting that the Center has always provided diverse participation and distinguished every year, in addition to the fact that the Center has presented projects to participate in the activities (Expo 2023 Doha), it is a new step that contributes to enhancing the presence of theater in the international forums hosted by the State of Qatar. This is in addition to the Doha Theater Festival, held every year in March.
Regarding the University Theater Festival, Al-Siddiqi said: There will be a meeting at the beginning of the new year to develop a strategy for the University Theater Festival, explaining that over the past four years the center has provided great support to the festival. in order to achieve the vision of the Ministry of Culture to spread cultural awareness and theatrical knowledge and prepare a conscious generation, noting that El Centro is a supervisory body and cannot continue to support the festival in this way, indicating that there must be a strategy and a vision of the future for those in charge of organizing the festival and organizing it independently under the technical and logistical supervision of the Center.