Our history

Elfo Theatre Company was founded in 1972 by a group of actors that even today manage the company and represent its soul: Corinna Agustoni, Ferdinando Bruni, Cristina Crippa, Elio De Capitani, Ida Marinelli and Luca Toracca, joined also by Elena Russo Arman and Francesco Frongia. A community of creative professionals close to a specific Italian actor tradition, but that has been able to evolve itself up with the times. In fifty years we changed not only our theatrical language, but also our management models.

In these years, we pursued and then realised a great dream (not only the Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s one): creating a great Art Theatre in Milan, inspired by prestigious theatres in Europe.

In 2010 our new location was inaugurated: the twentieth century theatre Elfo Puccini in Buenos Aires Avenue, in the middle of the LGBT+ District of Milan. We supported project and renovation costs, in order to build a new Contemporary Art Theatre. Our three venues, dedicated to Shakespeare, Fassbinder and Pina Bausch, are the example of our artistic manifesto. We believe in a theatre as a practice of contemporary dramaturgy, as interdisciplinary planning, as density of the artistic team and as work with/for new generation of artists and public.

Today. Elfo Theater is a 'factory' which produces art and theatre. It is not a shop, it is not a showcase. It is home opened to the entire city community, where people can meet and share thoughts and emotions.

Directed by Ferdinando Bruni, Elio De Capitani and Fiorenzo Grassi, Elfo Theatre is a cooperative and it is the first Italian theatre organisation to be acknowledged as Social Enterprise in 2011. This title was obtained with the involvement of our workers, stakeholders, public and the city community as a whole. We are trying an artistic avantgarde experiment. But also an economic and social experiment. We are an enterprise with ethical principles: job protection is the core of our work.