Luigi Squarzina | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 18 February 1922 |
| Died | 8 October 2010 (aged 88) |
Luigi Squarzina (18 February 1922 – 8 October 2010) was an Italian theatre dramatist and director.
Born in Livorno, Squarzina studied in Rome, at the Liceo Classico Tasso, where he had Vittorio Gassman as classmate.[1] He got a degree cum laude in Law, then he graduated as a director at the Silvio d’Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts.[1] He debuted as a stage director in 1944 with an adaptation of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.[1] In 1949, Squarzina debuted as a playwright with The Universal Exhibition, which was never represented in Italy due to censorship.[1] After directing the Teatro Ateneo in Rome, in 1952 he co-founded with Vittorio Gassman the Teatro d'arte italiano ("Italian Theatre of Art").[1] Squarzina later directed the Teatro Stabile in Genoa between 1972 and 1976 and later the Teatro Stabile in Rome, from 1976 to 1983.[1]
Squarzina was also active as a scholar and as a director of the theater section of the Encyclopedia of Performing Arts by Silvio D'Amico.[1] He was also an occasional actor, and for his debut performance in Francesco Rosi's The Mattei Affair he won the Silver Ribbon for best new actor.[1][2]
