Eugi Gufo's siteEugi Gufo

For almost the entire month of June 2011 I worked at the «Paolo Grassi» Theatre School in Milan. Many people have heard of it, but few have actually managed to get inside. So I decided to act as your guide.
At present, the «Paolo Grassi» is located at Via Salasco 4, inside the building of the former Milk Central.

From the opposite side, the profile of the building is easier to see: it has the shape of a П. On the right you can see the entrance guard booth and the ramp leading down to the basement. Near the fence there are the air-conditioning units and the parking area.

The origin and the destination of the wooden wheel remained unknown to me. Some of the students would periodically climb inside and spin the wheel like captive squirrels playing with one of their favorite toys. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to photograph them in action.

The inside of the caretaker’s booth looks, at first glance, like a homeless shelter. In reality, however, it is inhabited by the School’s cats: eleven in total. They are taken care of by Paolo the caretaker, an infinitely pleasant gentleman.

In the basement there are the workshop (I’m not sure this is the correct term) and the storage area for various theatrical equipment needed for performances. Scenery is created mainly by reworking old objects collected around the city. In those pieces of wood, for example, it is easy to recognize the remains of old furniture.

The main entrance is located exactly above the basement entrance (see where the two young ladies are standing in the first photo). And exactly halfway between them (vertically), the set designers hung a sign…

…and, being polite, every time I said «You’re welcome».
Entering the foyer, on the left we find the reception desk; going straight ahead we exit through a glass door onto the terrace. On the right and on the left, instead, there are black doors that lead to the staircases and the side wings of the building.

On the raised ground floor (where we have just entered), the most interesting things are the audio laboratory and the room with vending machines (full of the usual junk) and two microwaves.

On the stairs leading to the first floor we find black-and-white photographs of some of the School’s performances. There are few photos, and in most cases their quality is amateurish.

And then there are the «classrooms» (or is there a technical term?). In any case, don’t worry: the tilted horizon is my fault, and the light works perfectly. In fact, on my first day of work I almost left the entire building without electricity: with an accidental (and weak) shoulder bump, I tore a gigantic switch off the wall. It looked like it had been manufactured and installed in the 1950s, or maybe even earlier, and never touched again. Luckily the cables didn’t break, so with two or three spits I glued the switch back into place.

This, instead, is the layout of the first floor. The large rectangle on the left is a real theatre hall, although a small one. Photographing it and getting out alive would have been impossible: inside there was a strict director rehearsing nonstop from morning to evening.

I would have shown you the workshop as well, but there was too little time to take personal photos. Just taking the ones you’ve seen already nearly made me miss the entire lunch break. And a hungry worker is about as useful as a chimney in a theatre school.