Living in Prato :
Centers of culture

La Baracca

The Teatro La Baracca of Casale, in Prato, was born in 1993-1994 from the renovation of an old wooden building used by farmers for storing tools, and the locals just pointed out as "the shack". The name La Baracca also wants to make a tribute and draw inspiration from the traveling theater of García Lorca, appropriately called "La Barraca", with which the poet staged his performances in the Spanish countrysides before Franco. Over the years the building, which by its structure is also called 'theatre-house', has been fully restored with recycled and natural materials, and now is an unusual example of 'eco-friendly theatre'. The peculiarity of the theater is also formed from the stage, divided into three independent sections, which can be raised individually, in order to make a better use of the available space.

The small garden to the side of the theater, the 'pear orchard', in the summer is used for readings or small productions. At first the theater was used as a venue for theater workshops and rehearsal room, but already in 1996 it was organized a first brief theatre review, and from then until now the seasons have followed uninterrupted, enriched by shows and events. From 2003 to 2012, the Teatro La Baracca has been part of the Tuscan network "Sipario Aperto. Regional circuit of small theaters ", hosting several companies from all over Italy. At the moment the Teatro La Baracca is the seat of the company which organizes its own theater season with performances of various kinds, often with political and civic themes, representing 'uncomfortable' themes and stories of the city and not only, like, to name a few,

L’infanzia negata dei Celestini (about the scandal-orphanage in Prato in the 60s and winner of the 2006 Selection award of Tuscany Region); Dramma intorno ai concubini di Prato; Karl Laqua (about the massacre of the martyrs of Figline in Prato); Cafiero Lucchesi (Life and death between Mussolini and Stalin), Prato nel Sacco (about the sack of Prato in 1512); Gaetanina Bresci (My father Gaetano, the regicide); Miriam, the wife of Jesus; The Three Lives of the Tien An Men boy; the Etruscan drama Laris Pulenas, staged to bring attention to the discovery of the Etruscan town of Gonfienti in Prato. The company's repertoire is considerable, also in the field of comedy, and not feminine: Matilda (ex-aequo winner text of the XIV Prize Fondi-La Pastora); Cinderella is gone; Il bignamino delle donne (The ins and outs of women); Stupid (A life in the trap); and in children's theater where, reworking both the local tradition both styles and ways of the commedia dell'arte, it has created masks, original characters and stories as Pagliaccia Secca, the Beffana, Baco Gigi, Petuzzo and others.