The International Theatre Institute (ITI) Centres and the international theatre community across the world celebrated the World Theatre Day (WTD) on 27 March 2016.

• The Russian Dramatist Anatoly Vasiliev was the World Theatre Day International Message Author 2016. Vasiliev is a noted Russian theatre director and one of the leading European contemporary stage directors.
• World Theatre Day was initiated in 1961 by the ITI. Various national and international theatre events are also organized to mark the occasion. One of the most important of these is the circulation of the World Theatre Day International Message through which, at the invitation of ITI, a figure of world stature shares his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace.
• The first World Theatre Day International Message was written by Jean Cocteau (France) in 1962.

Krzysztof Warlikowski was the International Message Author of the World Theatre Day 2015.

International Theatre Institute

• The International Theatre Institute was created by theatre and dance experts, with the assistance of UNESCO, in 1948.
• It has developed into the largest organization for the performing arts with over 100 Centres and Cooperating all over the world.
• ITI organizes the International Dance Day and World Theatre Day every year at the UNESCO, Paris.