In 1958, José Celso Martinez Correa, Renato Borghi and a group of students lease the Novos Comediantes Theater.
The architect Joaquim Guedes created two auditoriums facing one another and separated by a central stage. This layout remained until 1966, when a fire destroyed completely the theater.
“For the reconstruction of the theater, in 1967, Flavio Império and Rodrigo Lefévre designed a large concrete grandstand with side accesses mid-level and an Italian stage with a revolving circle in the middle.”
The theater was declared a national heritage in 1981 ‘and that was the time of the first study by Lina Bardi and Marcelo Suzuki, which did not go ahead, but already proposed the rua (street) concept.
Lina Bo Bardi and Edson Elito drew up a preliminary design and the demolition of all the inside of the theatre began. Maintaining only the outer walls built of brick from 1920’s, with its Roman basement arches and the part of the existing roof. They created a stage the entire length of the theatre, from the entrance to the back.

Text written by Doris Rollemberg from Edson Elito’s statement contained in the book
ELITO, Edson- BARDI, LINA Bo. Teatro Oficina, Editorial Blau, Instituto Lina Bo e p. m. Bardi,
São Paulo, 1980-1984.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
SERRONI, J. C. Teatros: uma Memória do Espaço Cênico no Brasil. São Paulo, Editora SENAC 2002.

 autor: Doris Rollemberg