Piccolo Teatro

the first theater in Italy with a permanent company; it has its own house and is subsidized by the city municipality. The Piccolo Teatro, founded in Milan by the theatrical figure P. Grassi and the director G. Strehler, opened in 1947 with a production of Gorky’s Lower Depths. The theater gained popularity with its presentations of Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters (1947), Pirandello’s Tonight We Improvise (1949), Chekhov’s The Sea Gull (1948) and The Cherry Orchard (1955), Molière’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1965), and Ruz-zante’s Moschetta (1971). Especially popular were Brecht’s Threepenny Opera (1956), The Good Woman of Setzuan (1958), Galileo (1963), and Saint Joan of the Stockyards (1971).

The theater’s company occupies a prominent place in the country’s theatrical life, carrying out important cultural and educational work among theatergoers. A democratic viewpoint is characteristic of the company. Actors in the company include M. Moretti, L. Brignóne, G. Santuccio, T. Carraro, T. Buaz-zelli, V. Cortese, M. Fabbri, and F. Parenti. In 1960 the Piccolo Teatro toured the Soviet Union.