From the Piccolo occupied the scream of the theaters, now reopen

  More than a year after the outbreak of the pandemic, the halls of the theaters are still empty, the curtains remain down, the boxes are deserted and, on the occasion of World Theater Day, the cry of protest and exhaustion of the workers in the sector of the sector comes loud. spectacle, which call for a reopening of places of culture. From Milan, with the Lombardy Show Coordination, the protest started with the occupation this morning of the cloister of the Piccolo Teatro Grassi, in via Rovello, a stone's throw from the Duomo. From here, from the first municipal theater of prose in Italy, founded by Giorgio Strehler, Paolo Grassi and Nina Vinchi to become an art theater for everyone, professionals in the sector (technicians, machinists, actors, tailors, directors, set designers and students of the academies) ask the institutions "concrete signals and to become the first point of the political agenda". The date chosen for the peaceful occupation, that of March 27, is doubly symbolic not only because it is World Theater Day but because precisely today in Italy the reopening of theaters, cinemas and museums should have been celebrated, which was skipped due to the still too high numbers of infections. Many have fallen back on streaming with events all over Italy. Many sites and many theaters have spread the official message of the Day entrusted this year to the words of the English actress Hellen Mirren ("The beautiful culture of theater will live as long as we are"). But patience after so many months of darkness is at the limit: "This continuous precariousness is now unbearable - explained the workers in charge of the Piccolo Teatro Grassi, where they have established a permanent cultural Parliament - we need reform, protections, continuity income and reasoning on how we will return to work when the conditions are right ". The one caused by Covid on the live entertainment sector is a devastating effect, as evidenced by the numbers illustrated by the Agis president, Carlo Fontana: in 2020 the losses were 583 million euros; In addition, in the year of the pandemic, culture companies recorded a 76.7% decline in receipts, with an 80% decline in admissions, which went from almost 31 million people in 2019 to 6.2 millions of 2020 mainly related to the outdoor shows of the summer season. The Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, reassured by saying that "aid will not stop. In Italy it was supposed to be a day of celebration, a first restart - he added -, unfortunately it is not so, the serious health emergency did not allow the reopening of theaters and cinemas already foreseen in the yellow zones since all of Italy in the red or orange zone. The reopening will arrive and until then we will continue to help ". But in the meantime, in other cities of Italy, not only in Milan, show business workers mobilized and took to the streets: they did so in Turin, where they occupied the Umberto I bridge ("we only received alms from the government, we want a real confrontation table ") and in Venice, where 300 demonstrators occupied the Ponte della Libertà for a quarter of an hour, which connects the mainland to the city center, where they briefly slowed down traffic. While from the social many protagonists of the show from Alessandro Gassmann to Lino Guanciale have made their voices heard. On the day in which he was awarded honorary citizenship by the Municipality of Palermo, even maestro Riccardo Muti, dedicated a thought to the reopening of the theaters, then speaking of the need to create orchestras to ensure that the young graduates of our conservatories do not they must be unemployed. "From the theaters of the South - he said - we must and can start again, because music works miracles and is a gift to be given to everyone". Solidarity with show business workers also came from institutions and from the world of politics. With the President of the Senate Elisabetta Casellati who underlined how "with the theaters closed, the country has lost its great wealth. Because art marks our cultural vocation; it gives work, expresses creativity, narration, emotion; it builds bridges between peoples. ". While the president of the deputies of Italia Viva, Maria Elena Boschi, explained in a tweet that "we need to leave as soon as possible. We spectators can't wait to return, in compliance with the rules, to the room. Without culture you cannot live" . In Bolzano the Teatro Stabile instead gives a signal to restart with a review that will take place outdoors and which includes more than 100 free events between the city and the province, "Fuori! Il Teatro fuori dal Teatro".