Jumping from one theatre extravaganza to the next! The International Theatre Festival 2023 is kicking off in Beijing this week. Hosted by the World Theatre Education Alliance, this fest brings together drama academies from 14 countries, sending young talents to China for an amazing cultural exchange.

The drama of "Butterfly Love" by local students opens this year's International Theatre Festival at China's Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Another love story, "Romeo and Juliet", by students from the US, is another example of what's being brought to the stage.

HAO RONG President of the Central Academy of Drama, China Secretary General of WTEA "This festival has become a festival for global drama college students. When they bring their performances to the stage, there's no barrier of nationality, ethnicity, or region. They just embrace the art of theatre, express personalities, free up their souls and show up their performance for cultural exchanges."

GEORGE SHALUTASHVILI Georgia State University, Georgia "Here we can make cultural bridges, between nations, between cultures, between theatres. And I think it's very important. We are a very little world. And we have to be together."

LANCE MARSH Professor of Theatre, Oklahoma City "It's fantastic in so many ways. The big way is we love sharing the work we are doing and we love seeing the work of all the other countries. You know most of my students have never been outside of my country before. So seeing anything outside of the country and seeing people doing theatre differently, is great. But also the camaraderie that they make with other students and getting to take workshop with teachers from schools that they never knew existed before and they only imagine, that's incredible."

Some workshops during the festival help students to improve their performing skills, and to learn how to build trust with partners, freeing themselves from stresses to better express their feelings and energies.

HAO RONG President of the Central Academy of Drama, China Secretary General of WTEA "Theatre education is indispensable and irreplaceable to a person's development. It can build up a respectable personal charisma and brings benefit to physical and mental growth. It can also be applied to psychological counseling, but compared to music and painting which also have similar effects, theatre education is a more comprehensive art and can help people develop communication and cooperation skills in life."

During the festival, global drama performers and researchers hold forums and seminars to discuss how to promote and improve theatre education around the world.

YANG SHANSHAN Beijing "Organizers told us that they also hope theatre education could be brought into the public and even into primary and secondary school classes, to help kids to grow up in a positive way and to express their personalities. Yang Shanshan CGTN, Beijing."