Pugliese Steps Down at Oddfellows, Steps Up at UConn Rep Theatre

Middletown's youth playhouse executive director Matthew Pugliese is taking over leadership of the Connecticut Repertory Theater at the University of Connecticut.

Pugliese is now the interim managing director at the state university's troupe that includes professional actors and students in the college's dramatic arts department. He's an alumni of UConn, having earned his bachelor's degree in theater studies and graduate certificate in non-profit management from the Storrs university.

He joined Oddfellows in 2008 as managing director and became executive eirector in 2011. Prior to that, Pugliese served as a director for several Teen Repertory Company productions and was a teaching artist for many different Oddfellows. programs.

“I have been honored to represent Oddfellows for the last five years. It is an incredible arts organization, and has had a profound impact on so many young people over the last 39 years,” Pugliese said.

Pugliese served several seasons as the Production Manager at the Ivoryton Playhouse, during which time the theater won two Connecticut Critics Circle Awards and was nominated for six more. In 2012, he was selected by the Hartford Business Journal as one of its “40 under 40 Young Business Leaders.”

The board of directors selected Jeannette Archer-Simons as interim executive director. She is a seasoned transition expert working through the Third Sector New England interim executive program and has served several organizations in Connecticut as a consultant and called Middletown home for eight years when she served as CEO/Executive Director of the Girl Scouts CT Trails Council from 1999-2007. 

She is joined by Artistic Director Kristen Palmer, who holds an masters degree from NYU in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study with concentrations in education and theatre and an MFA from Hunter College in Playwriting. 

“Oddfellows, like all non-profits, faces a number of challenges now and in the future. I believe that despite these challenges, the Playhouse is in good hands. The talented artists that bring the magic alive at Oddfellows continue to be the lifeblood of the organization. Kristen Palmer, the Artistic Director, will be an incredible leader, artist and educator and will offer much for our young people,” Pugliese said.

Palmer received a Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis, a Connecticut State Individual Artist Grant from the Commission of Culture and Tourism and was Playwright-in-Residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts.

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• What Children Get Out of Theater

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