The Amed Theater Festival is opening its curtains for the tenth time this year, kicking off on Friday with the motto “Çiraya me geş dibe” (“Our light is getting brighter”). Running until May 4, the festival brings together different languages and cultures on stage and has long since become a place of collective memory and artistic resistance.

Organized by the Amed (tr. Diyarbakır) City Theater in cooperation with the Diyarbakır Municipal Theater, a total of eleven plays will be performed during the festival, including one play in Armenian, four in Sorani, six in Kurmancî, and four in Turkish. Theater groups from East, South, and West Kurdistan will also participate in the event.

The festival will open with a dance performance. A video presentation will be shown in memory of Kurdish actor Bavê Teyar, who was killed in January in a Turkish drone strike on the Tishrin dam in northern Syria in JAnuary. This will be followed by a performance of “Palma.”

For the first time, an Armenian theater group, Hangartz, will also be represented with its own play. Turkish theater groups such as Moda Sahne, Istanbul Impro, Adam Tiyatro, and BGST Tiyatro will also present their works as part of the festival, as will ensembles from the cultural associations Akademiya Huner (Sanandaj) and Bertevg a Kargeha Şanûya Hûman (Saqqez), based in East Kurdistan.

“A festival that appeals to everyone”

Speaking about the festival's integrative role, actress Şilan Alagöz from the Amed City Theater said: “Despite all the adversity and restrictions, we are proud to have kept the festival going for ten years. It has become a cultural memory for the region.” She invited the entire population to take part in this diverse cultural event. “The festival appeals to all social groups and brings different cultures together through its multilingual structure. That is precisely why it has such a special value for us and our city,” Alagöz stated.

Hope and strength on stage

The festival will also feature the premiere of the new play “Romeo û Juliet” by the Amed City Theater. “We are very excited and looking forward to it. This year, we are standing on stage with even more strength and hope,” said Alagöz. The festival offers something unique, as plays are presented in several languages – a lively expression of the coexistence of different cultures. ‘Of course, we would like to showcase even more languages on stage, but conditions do not always allow this. Nevertheless, it is important to us that all cultures can find themselves in our festival,’ she underlined.

“Amed will have its fill of theater”

In closing, Alagöz called on people to attend the festival: “Our audience has never let us down. Together, we can make the light of this culture shine even brighter. Anyone who receives an invitation is welcome to attend all the performances. Theater lovers are especially welcome. Let's work together to strengthen this cultural movement.”

A space for diversity, resistance, and community

With its multilingual and multicultural profile, the Amed Theater Festival is more than just an artistic event—it is a space for encounter, remembrance, and hope. In a region where cultural expression often faces political obstacles, the festival has been creating space for diversity, resistance, and community for a decade.