Who is Leon Skum?
The richest man in the world, a visionary genius, a controversial entrepreneur, a pioneer of space exploration and new technologies.
But what really lies behind this myth?
With STARMAN. The True Story of Leon Skum, Pietro Giannini stages a reconstruction of the life of a Leonardo in the age of Elon Musk, assembling fragments and traces that form a dark mosaic of the 21st century. From his childhood in South Africa to the building of the economic empire we know today, the piece unfolds through a vortex of testimonies and “barbecue-style” tableaux, a hybrid language contaminated by musicals, talk shows, space sagas, and the enigmatic presence of the robot Prometheus.
A portrait between myth and spectacle, born from an intensive journey through American nonfiction and wide-ranging readings, the work explores the death of “fathers,” between boundless ambition and the ghosts of the past, in an attempt to understand how a man determined to change humanity’s destiny is formed—and what he ultimately becomes.
Pietro Giannini (Genoa, 2000) trained at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico, where he worked under the guidance of Massimiliano Civica, Arturo Cirillo, Giovanni Ortoleva and Liv Ferracchiati. He began his own theatrical research path in 2022, which led to his first work La costanza della mia vita, produced by Teatro Metastasio and selected for the Scenario 2022 generation.
He continued with the monologue La trattoria calante, an investigative narrative about the events leading to the Morandi Bridge tragedy, which premiered at the Romaeuropa Festival within the Anni Luce – Powered by REF program, produced by the Teatro Nazionale di Genova. For the same theatre, he played the young lead in Equus by Peter Shaffer, directed by Carlo Sciaccaluga (season 2024–25). His mentors include Antonio Latella, with whom he collaborates as an actor in 2024–25 on the project World War Bomb, premiered at the Biennale Teatro di Venezia in 2025. He also completed his artistic training with key figures of the European theatre scene such as Thom Luz and Alessio Maria Romano. In 2025 he received the Premio Ubu for Best Actor or Performer Under 35.
Production Teatro Nazionale di Genova
