World Day of Theatre for Young People 2026

“Let’s go to the theatre!
Pick up leaves, and shells and sticks,
Marking our imaginations in the sand and snow,
Dreaming into what could be
Through squiggles, lines and swirls,
The collective map we make will help our future grow.”

Excerpt from ‘Let’s go to the theatre!’ by Sophia Derkenne, Generator Artist

World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People has been celebrated by ASSITEJ International on 20 March since 2001. Promoted through the message ‘take a child to the theatre today’. Promoted through the message ‘take a child to the theatre today’, this special day honours the “…transformative power of theatre and performing arts in nurturing creativity, imagination, and empathy among young audiences worldwide.’

Polyglot’s mission is to make transformational, playful arts experiences for children everywhere. Through immersive participation, our work gives children the agency to be in control, to communicate their ideas and imagination, and experience joy and connection.

At Polyglot, we love to see how children as artists, and adults as artists, can collaborate and inspire each other. Polyglot Inspiring People Society (PIPS) is a group of young people who contribute to the testing of ideas in the creation of new work, and to our company’s continuing education of how young people think and collaborate. The Generator is an informal ensemble of highly skilled freelance artists who deeply understand the company’s artistic approach and ethos.

For Polyglot’s 2026 World Day celebration, we invited our PIPS to respond to the following questions: 

• Why is it important for kids to be creative?
• What would help all kids everywhere play and be creative?
• If your voice could be heard by the whole world, what would you say?

Two of our Generator artists, Sophia Derkenne and Justine Warner, then developed responses inspired by the PIPS creations. Here is what everyone shared.

From our PIPS:

Why is it important for kids to be creative?

• Because you make stuff… like Christmas decorations.

What would help all kids everywhere play and be creative?

• If they had glue, scissors, tape and paper.
• Going to Polyglot shows because they do creative stuff.

Felix, age 5

I think it’s important for kids to be creative because if kids weren’t creative and imaginative how would they make a difference in this world if they couldn’t even imagine it first. I think something that would help a lot for every kid to get along, be creative and play is if every kid could be a PIP, or some sort of PIP, where they could see different arts and different events, I think that would help a lot. If my voice could be heard by the entire world, I’d say, be kind, be friendly, don’t make assumptions or be judgemental, and help everyone. Because I know that there are a lot of kids in this world who don’t get to play like I do.

Naiya

Why creativity is important!
Without opportunities to express our true selves and personalities, we will forever feel held back and end up lacking emotions in our future lives. As if we are cooped up on our phones, we will never experience the true meaning of life.

And yet as tech gets better every day, creativity will lose itself out the window and everyone is just going to go along with it?!

Charlie, age 11

Our artists’ responses:

Let’s go to the theatre!

Let’s put our phones away
Walk outside and feel the earth,
Let’s find the ancient drama of the sky,
The stories in the clouds
The gossip of the birds,
And the knowledge in the trees that the leaves speak with a sigh

Let’s go to the theatre,
Clear the couches, make a stage!
I’ll grab the costume box, paper, scissors and the tape.
Turn off all the lights ,
And gather the family around,
As into a world of light and shadow we will all escape.

Let’s go to the theatre!
Pick up leaves, and shells and sticks,
Marking our imaginations in the sand and snow,
Dreaming into what could be
Through squiggles, lines and swirls,
The collective map we make will help our future grow.

Let’s go to the theatre,
Let our hearts sync to the same breath,
And although it’s just a moment, after the show is done,
We all have felt so much,
Different perspectives, places, people!
Our hearts will always remember having all that fun.

So that when we see each other on the street,
Maybe we’ll smile,
Reach out and say “hello!”
Because we have shared a tiny world together,
The tears, gasps, shouts and laughter,
That place, the theatre, is somewhere we both know.

When was the last time you cried beside someone
at the same beautiful thing?

When was the last time you let your heart be free?

Dream
Laugh
Gasp
Sigh
Shout
And try. Try anyway.

When was the last time you took their tiny hand and said:

Let’s go!

Sophia Derkenne, Generator Artist

Imagination, creativity and expression taking flight; the paint palettes creating lift off! 

Freeing up whatever feels heavy. Ready to create stories and in search of others who are using their wings too! 

Taking off! 

“Out the window in a good way” with art resources (scissors, pencils, tape, paint and brushes) ready!

Justine Warner, Generator Artist