Theatro Empros, Alternative theatre in Psyrri district, Athens, Greece

Theatro Empros is a theatre in the Psyrri district of Athens, housed in a preserved building from the 1930s that originally served as the printing press of the newspaper Empros. The venue has multiple performance spaces, and a communal bar area connects the different parts and serves as a gathering point before and after shows.

The building was erected in the 1930s as the printing house of the newspaper Empros and later passed to KED. In 1988 the Morphés company of Dimitris Kataleifos, Tasos Bantis and Rania Oikonomidou rented it and converted it into a theatre; it was damaged by the 1999 earthquake and closed after Bantis died in January 2007. In November 2011 the seven-member Kinisi Mavili occupied it and reopened it as a self-managed space.

Theatro Empros is run collectively by artists and volunteers, with no single director in charge. Decisions about programming and daily life are made together in open meetings that anyone can attend.

The theatre is in the Psyrri neighbourhood and easy to reach on foot from central Athens. It is worth checking the programme in advance, as events change regularly and some evenings are reserved for open community meetings.

Visitors pay what they can for events, since the space runs on voluntary contribution rather than fixed ticket prices. This approach means the theatre is open to anyone, regardless of their means.