The activities of the 16th session of the Egyptian National Theater Festival 2023, headed by the artist Mohamed Riad, and the Egyptian Theatre Director Dr. Yasser Sadek, is to be held from July 29 to August 12.

The festival bears the name of the great star Adel Imam, in recognition of his long-standing impressive career. Known as the icon of stage and screen, the comic and dramatic actor starred in over 100 movies, more than a dozen TV shows as well as several plays during his career that surpasses over six decades.

The National Festival of Egyptian Theater is an annual celebration of the rich cultural heritage of Egyptian stagecraft, encouraging emerging artists to compete, grow, and contribute to the creation of local theatrical works.

The participating performances are represented by independent theater groups, the private sector, state theaters, university theater, syndicate teams and civil society.

The performances are held free of charge at a number of theaters, namely: Al-Salam, Al-Ghad, Al-Taliya, The Balloon, The Brides, Miami, Artistic Creativity Center, Hangars, Al-Samer, the National Theater and the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts theater.

In addition to theatrical performances, the festival organizes a theatrical composition competition for the first work, in which 186 texts compete.

The Honorees

This year, the festival honors seven actors, Salah Abdullah, Riyadh Al-Khouli, Khaled Al-Sawy, Ahmed Fouad Selim, Muhammad Mahmoud, Muhammad Abu Daoud, Rushdi Al-Shami, and Sami Abdel-Halim, as well as the decorator, Noha Barrada, and the writer, Muhammad Al-Sayed Eid.

The Jury

The jury under the chairmanship of the artist Ashraf Abdel Ghafour comprises of the actor, Magdy Kamel, and the director, Nader Salah El-Din, and the critic, Gerges Shoukry, and the musician, Tariq Mahran, and the interior designer, Mohamed Al-Gharbawi, and the professor at the Academy of Arts, Sahar Mahmoud Helmy.

The Festival programme

The festival's grand opening ceremony promises an enchanting performance by iconic Egyptian composer Hany Shenouda, who will present a medley of his own film scores from Adel Emam's movies.

Over 60 plays from different national theatre troupes will compete at this year's festival, up from 34 staged during 2022's 15th edition.

Various workshops are scheduled to take place alongside the National Theatre Festival, including directing classes by Shady Sorour, scenography sessions by Amr Abdullah, theatre management lessons by Safwat Hegazy and a session on career-building  by Director Khaled Galal.

An acting workshop, led by Ahmed Mukhtar, has already begun, training 60 actors from a pool of 600 applicants.

The festival offers a range of awards for outstanding work in the theatre industry, such as its writing award named for Abu El-Ela El-Salamony, and a new contest for film criticism.