Thirty artists and actors from China, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and the host country will take part in the event.

The annual festival will introduce plays and puppetry shows, which will disseminate information on gender education and the fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic and how to help HIV carriers.

Vietnam will present a play "Dung tuyet vong toi oi" (Don't Be So Hopeless) directed by Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc and a number of plays by choreographer Tuyet Minh of the Hanoi Youth Theatre.

During the three-week festival that will close on September 16, the organising board will open courses on using stage art to disseminate information on community healthcare and the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

The 2006 festival will be jointly held by the Research Centre for the Preservation of Vietnamese National Culture and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) under the sponsorship of the Rockefeller Fund of the US.