Bacci Roberto

(b. 1949), Italian director and artistic director. After completing his studies at the University of Pisa in 1972, Bacci began working in the Piccolo Teatro di Pontedera, which he later renamed Compagnia Laboratorio di Pontedera. In 1974 he founded the Centro per la Sperimentazione e la Ricerca Teatrale (Centre for Theatre Research and Experimentaion) in the small Tuscan town and remains the Centre’s artistic director to this day. Bacci has directed over twenty performances which have been presented in Europe, South America and the Middle East. In collaborating with some of the leading figures in international experimental theatre, including Jerzy Grotowski, Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook, Anatoly Vasiliev, Julian Beck and Judith Malina, Bacci turned Pontedera into a theatre centre of international renown, with the town also hosting an annual theatre festival. He has also supported experimental theatre research as the artistic director of the International Theatre Festival in Santarcangelo di Romagna (1978–1987) and of the international Volterra Teatro festival (1990–1999). Since 2002 he has been the artistic director of the theatre section of the famous Fabbrica Europa festival in Florence. He was one of the most loyal Italian allies of Grotowski and his theatre, and regularly hosted Grotowski himself as well as members of his group in Pontedera. His many years of support for Grotowski culminated in the founding of the Centro Lavoro Europeo di Jerzy Grotowski in 1984 on the initiative of Bacci and his collaborator Carla Pollastrelli. The Center later became the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski (Centro Lavoro Europeo di Jerzy Grotowski). Bacci also ensured that it was in Pontedera that Grotowski would work during the final years of his life. Bacci consistently supported Grotowski in his work and then after 1999 assisted Thomas Richards and Mario Biagini.