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Secretary-General Ismail Abdullah explained the Institute’s focus for this edition, saying: "In light of artificial intelligence and rapid technological development, has humankind created its own destroyer? Through this question and related inquiries, we aimed for the competition to celebrate texts that foresee the dangers of a post-human world. Just as Czech writer Karel Čapek in his 1921 play 'R.U.R. – Rossum’s Universal Robots' anticipated through imagination what science would later turn into tangible reality, and was the first to coin the term ‘robot’ — meaning ‘slave’ in Czech — Čapek was a visionary. Today, we live what he foresaw, and even more so with the accelerating expansion of AI in all aspects of our lives."
He continued: "The question for us as playwrights is: What should we anticipate? What should we write to protect humanity and the human spirit, while embracing growth and development?"
The Arab Theatre Institute has set the following guidelines for submissions:
The text must follow the dramatic theme adopted by the Intitute in 2024: “Humankind in a Post-Human World.”
The text must reflect Arab spirit and humanistic values.
The text must be original, unpublished, not previously submitted to any other competition, and not previously performed on stage.
Authors must be over 18 years old.
It is worth noting that the competition has introduced dozens of new voices to the Arab literary scene and enriched Arab theatrical content with texts that engage with contemporary realities and humanity’s shared experiences.
The Institute’s emphasis on playwriting stems from its belief that the written word ensures the longevity and survival of thought and meaning — a vision championed by the Institute’s Supreme President, His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, who has made writing theatrical texts a historical and ethical document.
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