The Scaparro Archive at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini

plus FEB, 23 2017

23 February 2017, 11am Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

With the Venice Carnival in full swing, the Theatre and Opera Study Centre will make a public presentation of the Maurizio Scaparro Archive, donated by the great theatre and film director to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

The Archive brings together material concerning Scaparro’s theatrical activities from the 1960s to the present day. An invaluable resource for the study of contemporary theatre and the overall Italian cultural world, the archive is divided into several sections, reflecting the various fields in which Scaparro worked. Along with an important collection of materials, such as scripts, director’s notes, letters, sketches, and set and costume designs, there are a large number of posters and playbills for various kinds of events and performances, a useful, detailed press section, and a rich photographic collection.

Maurizio Scaparro is a theatre, film and television director with a worldwide reputation. During his career he has directed some ground-breaking plays and events on the Italian and European cultural scene. He was has been the director of major theatres, including the Théâtre de l’Europe, Paris (as directeur adjoint to Giorgio Strehler), the Teatro di Roma, the Teatro Eliseo, Rome, and the Théâtre des Italiens, Paris. From 1980 onwards Scaparro made a reputation in international culture for his creation of the “Carnival of Theatre”, devised and launched during his first four-year period as the director of the Venice Biennale theatre section. The Venetian Carnival tradition, which he revived, is as popular as ever today.

To mark the presentation, a small selection of materials from the Scaparro Archive will be on view in the elegant rooms of the Longhena Library.