Angelo Aiello, an inventive puppeteer, storyteller, director, and teacher of creative theater, began his journey as a burattinaio in the commedia dell’arte tradition in 2001 with the company Arrivano dal Mare! in Cervia (RA), Italy. This led him to participate in many festivals in Italy and abroad (France, Belgium, Austria, Israel, Poland). In Cesena in 2002, Angelo completed a course in puppet therapy, and afterward worked with a group of educational psychologists called Burattini e Salute to create theater companies for adults and children with physical and mental disabilities. In 2007, he was a puppeteer in La ci darem la mano, a show dedicated to Mozart's Don Giovanni, under the direction of Roberto De Simone.
Angelo started Company Aiello in 2008 and since then operates as a puppeteer and teacher, often collaborating with the Cultural Association "Mammalucco" in Taurianova (RC). In September of 2013, Company Aiello was selected to participate in the World Wayang Puppet Carnival’s International Festival of Puppet Theater in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Angelo performed his original work Spazzolino and the Rubbish City. Since 2015, the company has been collaborating with the author Michele D’Ignazio, writing and touring shows based on his book series Storia di una matita. This project has traveled across Italy and Germany, with the next leg set to begin in September.
Relocated to Philadelphia, U.S.A. in 2016, Angelo is sharing his captivating world with a new audience. Company Aiello is now performing English-language repertoire and also offers workshops in puppet construction, utilizing recycled/found material. Most recently, the company is embarking on a collaboration with Filitalia to produce Onwards & Upwards: the Italian-American Dream, a show about the experience and value of immigrants arriving in a new society, and what we share with one another as a community and as neighbors.
