Maria Grazia Chiuri on Her Restored Theater and Rome’s Special Places

ROME – Rome has famously been described as a stage, given its fascinating and storied backdrops for events, its history of open-air performances in the city’s landmarks from the Colosseum to the Pantheon, and its ancient theaters. Now, Maria Grazia Chiuri has her own stage in the Italian capital, thanks to a personal investment by the designer and her family to restore a gem, the Teatro della Cometa.

“This is such a small tale that risked getting lost in a city that needs so much restoration, but I’m happy to reopen this theater and show the results of five years of works,” said Chiuri, who inaugurated the theater ahead of the Dior cruise show here Tuesday.

The artistic director of Dior‘s women’s haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections was clearly influenced by Countess Anna Laetitia Pecci Blunt, known as Mimì, who commissioned the theater in 1958.

“Her life was dedicated to art, and she herself was an artistic talent and a photographer,” Chiuri told WWD.

“I wanted to celebrate how a woman of that generation was exceptional and inspiring,” explained the designer, who has over the years has shined a light on several creatives, from Mickalene Thomas, Joana Vasconcelos and Judy Chicago to choreographer Sharon Eyal, among others. “It’s more difficult for creative women to emerge in art, and I like to give different points of view, but this does not exclude men,” she clarified.

Chiuri stumbled on sketches of the theater by Tommaso Buzzi,  the 20th century architect who designed the venue and, among other projects, the multi-faceted architectural complex and symbol of creative freedom La Scarzuola, and was immediately intrigued.

“I was fascinated by how he had imagined this place, conceived as an intimate theater inspired by those of ancient courts. It’s small, but it has everything it needs, including a revolving stage and windows that look onto the stage and on the street, creating a connection with the city, which becomes almost a set for the theater,” said Chiuri.

Described by architect and art historian Antonio Muñoz as “a jewel at the foot of the Capitoline Hill,” since 1958 the Teatro della Cometa has hosted performances by Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Arthur Kopit, and concerts by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Milly, and Charles Trenet, until its closure in 1968 due to a fire.

It later reopened and then closed again during COVID-19 and Chiuri said the restoration with a new visual identity designed by Studio Sonnoli was “complex,” as she wanted to “maintain the original spirit, keep all the main elements such as the chandeliers in the shape of stars and comets, brass doors, stage machinery and the structure, but still modernize it for efficiency.”

A selection of archival material dedicated to the history and conception of the theater, curated by Maria Alicata with original drawings by Buzzi; period photographs of Pecci Blunt with friends including Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, and Alberto Moravia; posters; letters; manuscripts; invitation; flyers, and publications are displayed throughout.

“Pecci Blunt lived between Rome, Paris, Tuscany and New York and she was in contact with the same creative entourage of Monsieur Dior,” said Chiuri, citing a photo where the countess is seen wearing Dior with Cecil Beaton. “She was internationally recognized for her commitment to the promotion of culture and the arts.”  

In fact, in 1935 she founded the Galleria della Cometa, named after the heraldic emblem of the Pecci family, and in 1937 The Cometa Art Gallery opened in New York.

As a sign of continuity with the theater’s strong multidisciplinary vocation, Chiuri sees the location as “a hub for avant-garde cultural innovation, from theatrical drama, to dance, music, performance,  artist residencies, workshops and international showcases and festivals, and high-quality international proposals, promoting exchange and the fusion of cultures, becoming a reference point for a dynamic, and inclusive cultural system.”

After, all, she added, Christian Dior “had also worked with the theater and ballets” over the years.

Chiuri’s daughter Rachele Regini has been involved in the project and is the theater’s head of the scientific committee, working with the curators and creating the calendar of activities and events.

“We want to approach theater as interdisciplinary. Teatro della Cometa is small, seating 230 guests, but the advantage is that you can experiment, it’s not necessarily as complex as a bigger theater with 2,000 seats,” said Chiuri.

Ahead of the Dior fashion show, the theater presented reenactments of the tableaux vivants imagined by Pecci Blunt for her soirées, along with others inspired by the famous photographs taken by Man Ray during the Bal Blanc she organized in 1930.

On the stage, amid the sets designed by Chiuri’s longtime collaborator and artist Pietro Ruffo, the performers wore reinterpretations of period costumes curated by Maria Luisa Frisa and created in Rome’s legendary costumer house Atelier Tirelli by Chiuri. All in white, the performers portrayed Pierrot, the Joker and the Duke of Orleans, among others.

Chiuri enthused about working with Tirelli, a first for the designer, and the quality and the craft of its costumers. “It’s the Oscars’ atelier,” she said, pointing to how it has contributed to 17 Academy Award wins for best costume design, from “The English Patient” to “Titanic.” Among the 15,000 archival costumes are, for example, the dress worn by Maria Callas in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Medea” and Winona Ryder’s and Michelle Pfeiffer’s gowns worn in Martin Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence.”

As part of the experience in Rome, in addition to the theater, Dior organized private visits to Tirelli, to Ruffo’s studio, where he showed several of his works created for the luxury brand with Chiuri, and the stunning Domus Aurea, the archeological complex originally built by Emperor Nero.

Asked how this tour of meaningful locations in Rome differed from the 10 venues Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli chose in 2015 when they were co-creative directors of Valentino for the Mirabilia Romae  exhibition marking their fall couture show back then, the designer paused for thought. “A new project in Rome was on my wish list, but it was also a challenge and not so easy because Mirabilia was magic, very successful and at the time it was very innovative. Now I wanted to offer a different view of Rome, more connected to  cinema and theater. The movies have been a big promoter of the city, through neo-realism, for example. I felt it was important to tell a story that was not only personal but also through the city.”