Many artists welcome the opening of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival - 2024

(NLDO) - The festival opened on the evening of November 12; the festival featured a "competition" between 25 plays, a photo exhibition "Introducing the achievements of Ho Chi Minh City theater"

Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen (5th from left), attended the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival on the opening night at the City Theater.

The opening ceremony of the festival took place on the evening of November 12 at the Ho Chi Minh City Theater. The first Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival was organized by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports in coordination with the Vietnam Stage Artists Association, the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association and related departments and agencies.

From left to right: Mr. Tran The Thuan, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City, Meritorious Artist Thanh Loc, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai at the opening ceremony of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival - 2024

Attending the event were leaders: Mr. Nguyen Van Nen - Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Mr. Phan Van Mai - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, People's Artist Trinh Thuy Mui - Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations, President of the Vietnam Stage Artists Association; People's Artist Nguyen Xuan Bac - Director of the Department of Performing Arts, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Mr. Tran The Thuan - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Mr. Pham Quy Trong - Deputy Head of the Department, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department of the Southern region; Mr. Nguyen Tho Truyen - Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; People's Artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Director Lee Jeong Nam - President of Busan Theater Association, Korea - expressed his excitement when enjoying the opening art program of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival - 2024 with many attractive performances.

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen talks with director Lee Jeong Nam - Chairman of the Busan Theater Association - at the opening ceremony of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival - 2024

Also attending were many artists from 20 public and private art units that are performing on weekends in Ho Chi Minh City in the field of drama.

The Festival Jury includes: Chairman of the Council is People's Artist Tran Minh Ngoc, Council members: Meritorious Artist Ca Le Hong, People's Artist Giang Manh Ha, People's Artist Le Khanh, People's Artist Trung Hieu, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Cong Ninh, author Nguyen Thu Phuong.

The artists attended the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition at Lam Son Park, which displayed 68 photos about the activities of public and non-public art units.

People's Artist Kim Xuan and MC Thanh Phuong recalled unforgettable memories of Kim Cuong drama with the play "Durian Leaf"

The festival takes place from November 12 to 29 at the stages where the lighting units perform and the Art Council will come to watch and judge. This is considered one of the key cultural activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025) and is also a great demonstration of the stage workers in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City Small Stage Drama Theater performed the excerpt "Justice like the sun" at the Opening Ceremony of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival - 2024

Mr. Tran The Thuan - Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City - stated that Ho Chi Minh City, as one of the economic, cultural, educational, scientific and technological centers; a gateway for international exchange, a large market for Vietnamese culture and arts; is striving to build a cultural industry with the orientation of becoming a key service economic sector. The city's drama art has had positive developments in recent years, contributing to shaping trends in enjoying drama to meet practical needs, creating brand impressions and playing an important role in the development of the Vietnamese theater industry.

People's Artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City, and artists view the photo exhibition.

In recent years, businesses and drama units have made great efforts in investing in their repertoire; there have been studies on building their own drama styles and audience segments to shape their brands. Young directors and actors have been researching, creating, and constantly learning to take their profession seriously….

"However, besides the achievements, the city's drama stage still has many difficulties and concerns such as the source of quality scripts, the team of young authors and directors has made much progress, but there is still a gap in inheriting the talent and comprehensive knowledge of previous generations; difficulties in facilities, competition from modern art forms..." - the head of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City commented.

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen and People's Artist Nguyen Xuan Bac (third from right) presented flowers to congratulate members of the Art Council of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival - 2024

In order to specifically evaluate the quality of activities, staff, performance organization... of the city's drama stage; at the same time, with the desire to create a professional playground rich in expertise for the city's drama units; create favorable conditions for artists to participate in national professional competitions, enrich personal achievements; thereby contributing to orienting artistic activities, promoting units to build programs and works with increasingly improved quality, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City coordinates with the Vietnam Stage Artists Association, the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association and related departments and branches to organize this festival" - Mr. Tran The Thuan emphasized.

People's Artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, said the festival will become an annual cultural event of the city. Each festival focuses on a specific type of theater. This first festival will be dedicated to spoken drama. The next festival in two years will be on reformed theater.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/lanh-dao-tp-hcm-tham-du-khai-mac-lien-hoan-san-khau-tp-hcm-lan-1-nam-2024-196241112222439511.htm