Following the recent acquisition of the personal archive of the playwright and stage director Giovanni Poli (1917-1979), the Institute of Theatre and Opera has organised a public presentation of the donation. Presented to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini at the behest of his sons Stefano and Massimo, the Giovanni Poli Archive consists of a great variety of documents, many of them unpublished, including theoretical writings, notes and director’s notes, essays on theatre, playbills and posters, stage photos, videos and press releases.
The archive is thus of key importance in reconstructing and studying the theatre of the Veneto director. Poli was the founder of the Ca’ Foscari University Theatre and the Teatro a l’Avogaria. A prominent
personality on the Venetian theatrical scene in the second postwar period, his work, strongly rooted in the Veneto, was focused on reviving the Venetian theatrical tradition but constantly bearing in mind contemporary developments. For the presentation, a selection of materials from the archive will be on show in the Sala Barbantini in the Fondazione Cini: scripts and director’s notes, sketches, designs, playbills, posters, stage photos and press releases. They will document the heart of an archive of great importance for the Institute and for its role in developing cultural relations with the local Veneto area.