Matteo A. Pangallo
"I have seen how art inspires artists across borders, between cultures, and beyond genres and forms. The arts, like the myriad cultures that create them, are not wholly discrete, but intrinsically bound together."
- Program: 2005 Graduate Scholarship Recipient
- Resides: Montague, MA
- Hometown: Salem, MA
- Age: 30
- Four-year College or University: Bates College
- Graduate School: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Arts / Music / Performance, Education / Academia, Literature, Nonprofits, history of the book
- Other Interests: Government, Literature, Nonprofits, Outdoor / Mountaineering / Camping, Performing Arts / Theatre, Politics and Diplomacy, Public Policy, Student Government, Writing / Journalism
Biography
"Matteo makes things happen," says Bates College President Elaine Tuttle Hansen. In spite of many adults who considered his youth a liability, 20-year-old Matteo Pangallo started the Salem Theatre Company in his hometown. The award-winning nonprofit company now produces a year-round season of main stage shows and school workshops. Matteo says, "I learned that when someone tells you that something is beyond your abilities, what they mean is that it is beyond their abilities."
Matteo has partnered with the National Park Service to help use theatre for educational outreach. One of his plays, adapted from historical events, will be staged onboard a three-masted, square-rigged trading ship. It is a task Matteo relishes as someone who has "witnessed the transformative power of the stage upon the hearts and minds of younger students." He is a founding member of the Massachusetts Shakespeare Coalition, which is lobbying for a state requirement that every high school student see at least one live production of a Shakespeare play. He also graduated Phi Beta Kappa, having entered Bates as a recipient of the highest honor the college bestows on freshmen.
Matteo's goal is to use theatre to "enlighten, express, heal, and transform both individuals and communities." He believes people can share their common dreams and diverse heritage through artistic creation. He looks forward to teaching Shakespeare at the college and high school levels, but perhaps to younger students as well, even while he continues to work as a performer, director, writer, and arts advocate.
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