Source: 7stages.org
World Theatre Day is celebrated globally on the 24th of March. It was created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), when President Arvi Kivimaa proposed on behalf of the Finnish Centre of the International Theatre Institute, first in Helsinki, and then in Vienna at the 9th World Congress of the ITI in June 1961, that a World Theatre Day be instituted. ITI is an international non-governmental organization, founded in 1948 by UNESCO and the international theatre community. Various national and international theatre events are organized to mark the occasion. Besides, many local events are also organized for the purpose of drawing attention to theatre and international harmony.
Source: producersperspective.org
Each year an outstanding figure in theatre or a person outstanding in heart and spirit from another field is invited to share his or her reflections on theatre and international harmony. This is known as 
the International Message and is translated into more than 50 languages, for tens of thousands of spectators before performances in theatres throughout the world, and printed in hundreds of daily newspapers. Colleagues in the audio-visual field lend a fraternal hand, with more than a hundred radio and television stations transmitting the Message to listeners in all corners of the five continents.
Source: uzreport.uz
The first World Theatre Day International Message was written by Jean Cocteau (France) in 1962. This day is a celebration for those who can see the value and importance of the art form “theatre”, and aims to bring awareness among governments, politicians and institutions which have not yet recognized its value to the people and to the individual and have not yet realized its potential for economic growth.
Anatoly Vasillev, the Russian Dramatist was World Theatre Day Author for 2016. He is the noted Russian Theatre director and one of the leading contemporary age directors.