Ciakontemporaneo

A youth theatre festival in the heart of the Cassia district

Ciakontemporaneo is a contemporary theatre festival dedicated to children, families, and schools, promoted by Teatro Ciak Roma, a historic venue located at Via Cassia 692, in the 15th Municipality of Rome (Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio). The initiative was born with a clear goal: to make theatre a truly accessible experience for everyone, with free admission for both the general public and school groups, in a northern suburban neighbourhood of the capital where cultural offerings for young people are rarely a given.

A programme that speaks to youth without oversimplifying

The schedule ranges from storytelling to fairy tales, from mysteries to classics, and even touches upon contemporary social issues. The common thread is not the age of the audience, but the quality of the perspective: the performances intertwine emotions, knowledge, and reflection on identity, coexistence, and diversity, restoring childhood to its status as a space for creative growth. Myths and great traditional texts are reinterpreted in dialogue with the present, using dramaturgy that embraces complexity while stimulating curiosity, active listening, and imagination across different age groups.

Teatro Ciak, a neighbourhood venue with a city-wide calling

For years, Teatro Ciak has served as a cultural anchor for the Cassia area, hosting a prose season, a theatre school, and constant activities aimed at children and teenagers. The Ciakontemporaneo festival fits naturally into this mission, bringing companies and productions to the stage that work with the language of contemporary youth theatre. Performances are organised to serve a dual audience: weekday matinées reserved for schools and weekend shows open to families.

A project supported by institutions

Ciakontemporaneo is realised with the support of the Ministry of Culture and was a winner of the Roma Creativa 365 call for proposals promoted by the Department of Culture of Rome Capital, in the section dedicated to festivals and live performance activities spread across the territory. Public funding is what makes free admission possible—a key element of a project that explicitly aims to expand the audience and provide access to families and classes that might otherwise not attend a paid theatre performance.

Why it's worth it

• Free admission for all scheduled performances, including for families and schools.
• A programme tailored to different age groups, from toddlers to high school students.
• Reinterpretations of classics and contemporary texts presented side-by-side, without hierarchy.
• An intimate venue, easily reachable by bus and the FL3 train line.
• An opportunity to discover the 15th Municipality, between the Cassia, La Storta, and the green areas of the Veio Park.

Rome, youth theatre, and the Lazio region

In the Lazio landscape, theatre for new generations is a vibrant but often invisible sector, overshadowed by the vast offerings of the historic centre. Festivals like Ciakontemporaneo have the merit of decentralising the cultural experience, bringing it into neighbourhoods and local spaces. For a Roman family, it is an opportunity to turn an autumn afternoon into a zero-cost cultural outing; for a school, it is a chance to build an educational journey that continues in the classroom after the show.