Paolo Grassi

Paolo Grassi
A marble gravestone on the wall of a crypt
Grassi's grave at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan, Italy.
Born(1919-10-30)30 October 1919
Milan, Italy
Died14 March 1981(1981-03-14) (aged 61)
London, England
NationalityItalian
OccupationTheatrical impresario

Paolo Grassi (30 October 1919 – 14 March 1981) was an Italian theatrical impresario.

Grassi was born in Milan, Italy. As a young man, he worked in magazines and discovered a passion for the theater. It led him in 1937 to create a Bertoldissimo (musical work), which he oversaw and directed. He organized the theatre company Ninchi-Dori-Tumiati and founded the avant-garde group Palcoscenico (Stage). Grassi was a Socialist.[1] During the Second World War, he was conscripted into the army but went over to the Italian resistance movement, including working with the socialist newspaper Avanti!. In 1947, with Giorgio Strehler, friend and associate,[2] Grassi founded the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, the first Italian civic theatre.[3] It was later renamed, in his honour, the Teatro Paolo Grassi.

In 1964, he purchased the Teatro San Ferdinando with Strehler, renaming it Teatrale Napoletana.[4] From 1972 to 1977 he was superintendent of the La Scala theatre, while from 1977 to 1980 held the post of president of Italy's state broadcaster RAI. He later became director of the Electa publishing house.

Grassi died in London in 1981 following heart surgery and is buried at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan. The Scuola d'arte drammatica Paolo Grassi ("School of Dramatic Arts Paolo Grassi") in Milan is named in his honour.[5]

  1. ^ McManus, Donald (1 July 2003). No kidding!: clown as protagonist in twentieth-century theatre. University of Delaware Press. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-0-87413-808-5. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  2. ^ Hirst, David L. (18 February 1993). Giorgio Strehler. Cambridge University Press. pp. 4–. ISBN 978-0-521-30768-0. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  3. ^ Bondanella, Peter; Bondanella, Julia Conaway (30 January 2001). Cassell Dictionary of Italian Literature. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 558–. ISBN 978-0-304-70464-4. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  4. ^ Filippo, Eduardo De (2007). Teatro: Cantata dei giorni dispari. Arnoldo Mondadori. ISBN 978-88-04-56243-6. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  5. ^ Drain, Richard (4 December 1995). Twentieth-century theatre: a sourcebook. Psychology Press. pp. 372–. ISBN 978-0-415-09619-5. Retrieved 12 March 2012.