A doorway ajar. A beam of light cutting through the half-light. Grains of dust dancing in the air of a small theater in Rome.
That was all it took for a shy and insecure teenager to understand what the meaning of the sacred would be in his life. That teenager was Luciano Melchionna, and on Friday, June 12, 2026 at 6:30 p.m., Milan will have the opportunity to meet him up close. The Neapolitan playwright, director and artistic director will be featured in the cultural cycle of OTHER SIZE GALLERY by WORKNESS CLUB; film critic Francesco Della Calce will moderate.
A graduate of the “Silvio d’Amico” National Academy of Dramatic Art – where he studied with masters such as Luca Ronconi and Lorenzo Salveti – Melchionna is now one of the most visionary and original voices on the Italian theater scene. He is the creator, playwright, director and performer of the cult Dignità Autonome di Prostituzione, a performance project that has been continuously on stage for more than eighteen years and winner of the Golden Grail – Special Award for Idea and Direction. Over the course of his career he has directed performers such as Stefania Rocca, Carolina Crescentini, Claudia Pandolfi and Lello Arena, and in the film field he has signed the feature films GAS – selected at the 2005 Locarno Film Festival – and Ce n’è per tutti, with Ambra Angiolini, Stefania Sandrelli and Micaela Ramazzotti. He currently directs the festival I Nostri Miti – Eroiche disTrazioni.
What to expect from this evening
In an open and unfiltered dialogue, Melchionna will talk about himself: his teenage dazzling thunderbolt for theater, his formative years alongside Luca Ronconi, the behind-the-scenes of his most visionary shows and the stylistic and human choices that define his outlook. And above all: his idea of theater as a revolutionary act, as an urgency that knows no compromise.
Free admission
