Nancy, a historic city of 150,000 inhabitants, lies near the Meurthe River in the Northeast corner of France. One hundred and ninety miles from Paris and ninetythree from Strasbourg, Nancy is the capital and cultural, commercial, and university center of Lorraine.

Nancy became a model of eighteenth-century urban planning under Stanislas I, the last duke of Lorraine. The former king of Poland, Stanislas was given the dukedom in 1737 after his daughter married Louis XV of France. Under his patronage, Nancy was transformed into a city of wide avenues, imposing squares, a large public park, and many buildings that were considered by many to be among the finest architectural accomplishments of the eighteenth century. Nancy's center is still Place Stanislas, which contains a statue of its favorite duke.

“The Theatre of the Third World” was the main theme of the Seventh Festival of Arts that was held this year as in years past in the spectacular ancient environments of Shiraz and Persepolis in Iran. The festival, which was held from August 30 to September 9, presented a number of works by “Third World” theatre troupes in addition to hosting the Second Third World Theatre Conference.

Where is the Third World? The term Le Tier Monde (the Third World) was invented by a number of French writers during the late 1950's. To them, the Capitalist countries constituted the “first” world, while the “second” consisted of nations living under Communist regimes. Thus, the newly independent nations of Africa and Asia were termed “the Third World,” with some South American states, for little reason, also being lumped into this category.

Edinburgh is an impressive place to hold a festival: its center, where virtually all of the activities take place, is dominated by a sixteenth-century castle perched at the top of a steep craggy rock. From there the “Royal Mile,” consisting of a main artery, myriad picturesque alleys, and tall grey sandstone buildings, stretches to Holyrock Palace, the domicile of former Scottish kings. “Auld Reekie,” as this area is called, has a brooding quality to it, somewhat like the old city of Prague: One feels it should always be raining. The hilly geography extends to the southeast, where the legendary “Arthur's Seat,” described as a “volcanic eminence,” overlooks Holyrock Park and the rest of the city.

Among the productions at the 1973 Dubrovnik Festival, the one which elicited the greatest interest from the tourists, including vacationing governmental leaders, was actually an implicit deprecation of the exploitation of and by tourists. The performances of Christopher Columbus were presented this past summer on board an oversized replica of the Santa Maria, as it sailed with crew and audience out of the Dubrovnik harbor, continued through the night in search of the new world, and came into port to discover a new land exactly like the old one from which they had departed two hours earlier—a waterfront lined with restaurants, souvenir stands, and tour boats.

The fourth annual Festival de los Teatros Chicanos was held in San Jose, California, on June 15-24, 1973. It was a gathering of teatros from the many different regions in the United States where Chicanos—persons of Mexican-American descent—have settled. There also were several theatre groups from Mexico itself.

Chicano theatre has roots in the ancient culture of the Mayans, but its contemporary awakening dates from 1965, when Luis Valdez first organized El Teatro Campesino, a theatre based in San Juan Bautista, that played in the fields for the huelgistas (strikers) of the United Farm Workers in support of the strikes and boycotts against table grapes and, more recently, iceberg lettuce.

The Tenth World Festival of Youth and Students was of such proportions that it seems difficult to believe it really happened. “Think big,” I was told before I went to East Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), “only then will you have some idea of what to expect.” Even with this advice, I was totally unprepared for what was probably the biggest festival in the world since World War II.

The opening ceremony unleashed activity that grew in momentum, scope, and size for nine days. As part of a festival by and for young people, it was much more colorful and boisterous than any Olympic opening. Delegations of young people from 119 countries marched through the city of Berlin for three hours before arriving at the festival stadium, which was already packed with nearly sixty thousand people. The event itself was so big that the delegations had been split into two groups in the morning.