Teatro Laboratorio

The Scientific Theater/Laboratory Theater is a stable theatrical production structure recognized by the Ministry of Culture. It focuses its production particularly on contemporary dramaturgy, civil, social, and community theater, often working in site-specific contexts, creating artistic and training projects, organizing reviews (always hosting both established companies of innovative theater and scouting operations for emerging artists), events, the "No Difference" Festival, and Teodorico Summer Fest. It has a study and research section on the Commedia dell'Arte. It was founded and is directed by the Teatro Laboratorio di Verona. It manages the Archive of the Scientific Theater – Laboratory Theater.

The Theater/Laboratory was founded in 1967 (officialized in 1968) in Verona by the will of Ezio Maria Caserta and Jana Balkan. Its first venue (and until 1975) is an alternative space, the first off-theater of the city, at the end of via Scuderlando, where the group combines production activity with hosting. The first avant-garde Italian and foreign companies arrive there. In 1975, the company moved to the venue in piazzetta Fontanelle Santo Stefano (which it transforms from an old garbage depot into a theater), which becomes one of the first multifunctional centers in Veneto and a reference point for "new" culture in the city of Verona: among others, Salvatores, Benigni, Paolo Poli, Elio De Capitani, Odin Theatre, Living Theatre, Grotowski, Carmelo Bene, Pippo Delbono, etc. perform there, and numerous concerts are organized in collaboration with Club Tenco: Gianna Nannini, Paolo Conte (who holds his first concert here), Francesco Guccini, Leo Ferré, Gino Paoli, etc. Additionally, there are experimental film reviews and training activities.

Meanwhile, the Veronese company has begun to establish itself nationally (in 1975 Ronconi invites it to the Venice Biennale, where it will be present several more times) and internationally (numerous tours abroad: Cologne, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, Athens, Marseille, Copenhagen, Mexico City, New York, Montevideo, Vienna, Avignon, Valencia, etc.) winning numerous awards.

In 1977 the Theater was burned down by arson and was rebuilt. In 1999, significant renovation work was undertaken to adapt the building to new European regulations, but in the meantime, it was decided to restore the former funicular, and the Theater had to leave the venue. In 2010, a space in the former arsenal was proposed as a venue. The Scientific Theater undertook the renovation work, transforming it into a theater hall, which it vacated at the end of July 2021.

The Scientific Theater – Laboratory Theater, under the artistic direction of Isabella Caserta, has collaborated with, among others, Carmelo Bene, Dario Fo, Grotowski, Giorgio Gaslini, Giorgio Albertazzi, Lincoln Center, Living Theatre, Paola Borboni, Raf Vallone, Mariano Rigillo, Anna Teresa Rossini, Eugenio Barba, Aldo Reggiani, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Theater Studies in Rome, Edoardo Siravo, Franco Battiato, Vittorino Andreoli, Lindsay Kemp, Pierpaolo Sepe, Elisabetta Pozzi, Giulio Scarpati, Eugenio Allegri.

In 2005, the Cinema Section was inaugurated, which in 2011 evolved into New Cinematographic Workshops, founded and directed by Luca Caserta, for the production of films and audiovisual works (with its works, it has been present at the Cannes Film Festival and various international festivals, winning many awards: www.noc-cinema.com).