Théâtre Montparnasse & Petit Montparnasse

The Théâtre Montparnasse sits behind a flat, unassuming facade on rue de la Gaîté. It distinguishes itself by a vertical sign that glows in the evening, marking the entrance to a space that has occupied this lot since eighteen seventeen. While the original wooden structure burned down, the current stone building remains a hub for private theater in Paris. In nineteen thirty, an actor named Gaston Baty took over the lease, turning the stage into a laboratory for his experimental lighting techniques and elaborate marionette shows.