Germany´s largest international theatre festival that takes place every three years.

Since its 1st edition in Cologne in 1981, “Theater der Welt” (engl.: Theatre of the world) has made new aesthetic developments in theatre work from all over the world visible and tangible. This task has since been achieved in changing host cities in cooperation with local theatres. The curatorship of the festival is re-assigned for each festival edition and hosted in a different city in Germany. In this way, new interactions between the performing theatre, the curators of each festival, the different venues in the festival city and the audience are constantly created – a unique and concentrated working format.

It is a platform for showcasing diverse and innovative performing arts productions from around the world. Organized by the German Centre of the ITI in cooperation with local and international partners it promotes cultural exchange, collaboration, and dialogue among artists, performing arts practitioners, and audiences on a global scale. The festival provides a unique opportunity for international and local artists to present their work to a diverse audience and for attendees to experience a broad spectrum of artistic expressions and visions from different parts of the world.