Actor Spotlight

Invincible Dallas stage fighter Jeffrey Colangelo spars about martial arts and Shakespeare

At this year’s Festival of Independent Theatres, held at the Bath House Cultural Center from July 10-August 1, there’s a good chance you’ll see some pretty sweet swordplay. That's because Jeffrey Colangelo, one of the area’s most respected stage combat experts and movement choreographers, is presenting Renaissance Fighters with Dean Wray and Caitlin Galloway, with collaboration from SCDallas. (It plays on July 11, 12, 16, 25 and 26.)

Colangelo is one of the founders of SCDallas, a company that was formed in 2012 to safely teach and oversee stage combat in Dallas-Fort Worth. He’s also the co-founder of PrismCo, a performance group that presents experimental movement pieces. (Their Galatea was recognized by the DFW Critics Forum in 2014.)

Before he picks up his sword for FIT Fest, Colangelo took the time to fill out our survey of serious, fun and sometimes ridiculous questions.

Name: Jeff Colangelo

Participation in the Festival of Independent Theatres: Actor, fight director and writer of Renaissance Fighters

Previous work in the DFW area: Acting: PrismCo (Prism and Galatea) Shakespeare in the Bar (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing), Cara Mia (Zoot Suit, Romeo and Julieta). Fight direction: DTC, Trinity Shakespeare, Shakespeare Dallas, Theatre Three, Cara Mia, Water Tower, Undermain and PrismCo. Co- founded PrismCo with Katy Tye, and co-founded SCDallas with Ashley White and Brandon Sterret.

Hometown: Orlando, Florida

Where you currently reside: Dallas

First theater role: First professional role was a Volsce Lieutenant in Shakespeare Dallas' Coriolanus.

First stage show you ever saw:The Lion King on Broadway

Moment you decided to pursue a career in theater: It was in middle school. I was really hoping for a career as an animator or scientist, but then I got hooked by the drama club.

Most challenging role you’ve played: Michael in The Pillowman. Getting inside the head of the character took me basically the moment before opening to even come close to figuring him out.

Special skills: Fight direction, martial arts, juggling, clowning and mime

Something you’re really bad at: I am so, so, so bad at singing. There are professional singers who think that being tone-deaf is just a myth and after working with me, they have quickly changed their minds.

Current pop culture obsession: Any of the Batman Arkham games, Fallout and anything Guillermo del Toro has worked on.

Last book you read: Don’t judge me, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is the last book I’ve read cover to cover.

Favorite movie(s):Pacific Rim, Old Boy, Black Swan, Stranger than Fiction

Favorite musician(s): Skrillex, Ludivico, Tribe Called Red, The Avett Brothers, Yo Yo Ma. Basically anything that helps me choreograph movement.

Favorite song: "Short Change Hero" by The Heavy. It sounds like a cowboy ballad, and I respect it for that.

Dream role: Mercutio, Caliban, Old Capulet — just throw me some good Shakespeare roles, and I’m down.

Favorite play(s): Almost anything by Shakespeare, Sleep No More, True West, The Pillowman

Favorite musical(s):Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Stagger Lee, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spring Awakening

Favorite actors/actresses: Robin Williams, Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Lawrence. I deeply admire a lot of our local actors and actresses.

Favorite food: Sushi, hummus, pasta, and tortas. There’s this great place on Jefferson that I’m addicted to called Tortas Las Tortugas.

Must-see TV show(s):Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Sherlock,Attack on Titan, Dragon Ball Z, Arrested Development, Important Things by Dimitri Martin

Something most people don’t know about you: Despite my profession, I’ve never broken a bone in my body.

Place in the world you’d most like to visit: Italy (all of it)

Pre-show warm-up: Trying to forget there’s a show coming up (keeps my nerves down).

Favorite part about your current role: My purple sash, and some of the ridiculous monologues I get to say.

Most challenging part about your current project: It is most definitely doing the sword fight choreography in such a confined space; it requires a lot of precision to make sure the fight looks good and is safe.

Most embarrassing onstage mishap: One time I was onstage as Donalbain, and I bent over and boom, my pants ripped. I had to do the rest of the scene with a huge tear on my butt. It was not fun.

Career you’d have if you weren’t in theater: I would probably be teaching at a martial arts studio, doing stunts for film work or freelance writing.

Favorite post-show spot: It used to be called Nandina’s, but now I think its called Sunny’s. It's open until 3 am and they’ve got amazing Thai teas. Best place to go after a show with your cast.

Favorite thing about Dallas-Forth Worth: There is so much potential here. Space is cheap, and the theater atmosphere is dying for some growth and innovative new ideas. It’s really an exciting time to make theater in Dallas.

Most memorable theater moment: Doing Galatea with the movement theater company I co-founded: PrismCo. That show was just so incredibly magical and fun to do. We knew we were changing people’s lives when they came to see that show, and it was a great way to start off our work as a company.

Jeffrey Colangelo co-founded PrismCo, which produced the paint-splattered Prism earlier this year.

Photo courtesy of FIT

Jeffrey Colangelo co-founded PrismCo, which produced the paint-splattered Prism earlier this year.

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arts news

Dallas' Crow Museum of Asian Art names new curator ahead of second outpost opening

Crow Museum curator Natalia Di Pietrantonio

Photo by Natali Wiseman

Newly announced curator Natalia Di Pietrantonio.

The Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas has found its new curator. Natalia Di Pietrantonio, Ph.D., hails from the Seattle Art Museum and was selected after a nationwide search.

There, she served as inaugural curator of South Asian art, caring for the museum's South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Islamic art collections while also serving as an affiliate art history faculty member at the University of Washington.

Di Pietrantonio arrives just as the Crow Museum is preparing to debut a second museum next fall.

Designed by global architecture firm Morphosis, the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Athenaeum is being constructed as part of a 12-acre cultural district on the UT Dallas campus.

Over the next year, the 38-year-old curator will work closely with architects, interior designers, academic faculty, and museum staff to select the artworks that will be on view when the new museum opens its doors. She will also guide the 10,000 square feet of gallery space at the original Crow Museum, which was founded in 1998 and is in the downtown Dallas Arts District.

In addition, Di Pietrantonio will serve as a faculty member in the arts department at UT Dallas.

“Natalia brings a wonderful vision, a fresh and energetic perspective, and a proven track record in elevating Asian American art and culture in compelling ways,” says Amy Lewis Hofland, senior director of the Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas. “With her background in South Asian and Islamic art, she also will help build the Crow Museum of Asian Art collection, strengthening it to better reflect the growing diversity of our region.”

A first-generation Mexican American whose first language was Spanish, a release says that "Di Pietrantonio brings over 10 years of professional and academic experience, ranging from highly lauded museum exhibitions and university cultural events to innovative collaborations and unique community outreach experiences."

From 2014-15, she served as a Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellow for the Islamic department at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. She is multilingual and speaks Spanish, Persian, Urdu and English.

At the Seattle Art Museum, she harnessed her expertise of modern and contemporary art to curate two diverse exhibitions: "Embodied Change: South Asian Art Across Time" (January 2022), which focused on the body and female representations in South Asia; and "Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water" (March 2022), which addressed climate change and water access.

During her tenure at the Seattle Art Museum, she grew their South Asian collection by 25 percent. She also was the lead curator on the mid-career retrospective of the performance artist Anida Y. Ali that debuts in January 2024.

Recognizing that North Texas has one of the fastest-growing Asian American populations in Texas, Di Pietrantonio is excited to pursue exhibitions and programs that are topical both locally and globally to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. She also intends to bring performance art into the cultural mix at the Crow Museum.

"As the Crow Museum embarks on a new era with a second museum on the horizon, I am honored to be part of its storied history known for dynamic and innovative exhibitions and programs,” says Di Pietrantonio. “My first major goal is to learn more about the North Texas region — from UT Dallas students and museum supporters to neighborhood organizations and our increasingly diverse populations — so I can help align and tailor the museum programs for its communities.”

In 2018, Di Pietrantonio completed her Ph.D. in the history of art at Cornell University, studying under the contemporary artist Iftikhar Dadi with a focus on calligraphy and book arts. Prior to that time, she received a master’s degree in South Asian studies from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of California, Davis. It was during her years at UC Davis that a dynamic professor introduced her to Islamic art and ignited her interest.

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