Born in 1949 in Piza. In 1974 he founded Centro per la Sperimentazione e la Ricerca Teatrale in Pontedera, Italy, since 1999 known as Fondazione Pontedera Teatro, a centre for theatrical research aimed at creative work; education; supporting the artistic activities of theatre groups; and creating a place for work and meetings of scholars, artists, and other theatre practitioners. The centre also runs its own theatre projects. Bacci leads it together with Carla Pollastrelli. In 1986 Jerzy Grotowski accepted their invitation and moved from the United States to Italy to form Centro di Lavoro / Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, where he continued his research of Art as Vehicle until his death.

 

As co-artistic director of the centre, Bacci has worked on numerous projects in Italy and other parts of the world, coming into contact with such acclaimed artists such as Peter Brook, Anatoli Vasiliev, Raul Ruiz, Julian Beck and Judith Malina, Sanjukta Panigrahi, and others. From 1978 until 1987 he was the artistic director for seven editions of the Festival Internazionale di Teatro di Santarcangelo di Romagna. Between 1990 and 1998 he managed festivals Internazionale Volterra Teatro and Festival Passaggio a Pontedera, known as Generazioni since  2000. In 2002 he became artistic director for the theatre section of the Fabbrica Europa festival in Florence.

 

Bacci graduated in 1972 in theatre theory studies. His dissertation “Theatre and Alchemy” was based on Odin Theatre’s performance of Min Fars Hus, directed by Eugenio Barba. Between 1976 and 2007, he directed 25 performances which were presented in Italy, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, first with the Piccolo Teatro di Pontedera, and then with the Compagnia Laboratorio di Pontedera.

 

In 2004, Bacci was honored with the Meritorious for Polish Culture award. His collaboration with Poland is not limited to cultivating the legacy of Jerzy Grotowski and his artistic heir, Thomas Richards. Two of Stary Teatr’s productions were brought to Pontedera from Krakow: Nastasja Filipowna and Crime and Punishment (after Dostoyevsky, directed by Andrzej Wajda). Both Akademia Ruchu, led by Wojciech Krukowski, and Gardzienice Theatre were often invited to Pontedera. As a result of collaboration with Piotr Borowski’s Studium Teatralne, a performance of Man was presented in both Pontedera and Florence as part of the Fabbrica Europa festival in 1999.

 

In 2004, Theatre ZAR from Wroclaw presented their performance of Gospels of Childhood as part of Generazioni festival. The company, directed by Jaroslaw Fret, also led workshops on Georgian music during the Fabbrica Europa festival in 2006.

 

Invited by the Grotowski Centre in Wroclaw and the Warsaw Theatre Academy, Bacci brought to Poland An Ass’s Bray, based on The Idiot by Fiodor Dostoyevsky. Polish audiences also had the opportunity to see Oblomov (after Goncarov) and Waiting for Godot (after Beckett).

 

In 2008, Bacci founded Theatre Era in Pontedera as a new base of Fondazione Pontedera Teatro, in front of which a park dedicated to Jerzy Grotowski was recently opened.

 

For more information, visit www.pontederateatro.it