AMHERST – Together with Amherst Community Theater, Valley Light Opera, Rainbow
Players/Empowerment Through the Arts, and Starlight’s Youth Theatre, Valley Players is now
working to build a home for the community performance and arts education in the greater
Amherst area. Valley Players has joined the Performing Arts & Education Collaborative, a
501(c)3 nonprofit partnership that has come together to create a shared space for performance,rehearsal, classes, and set and costume construction and storage.
“Our mission from day one has been to help build community through community theater,” notes Valley Players president and founder Matteo Pangallo. “It makes perfect sense, then, for us to team up with our fellow community arts organizations who share both our drive to serve the region and our frustrations with having no fixed place we can count on as our home.”
Following a meeting with several of PAEC’s leaders, Pangallo was enthusiastic about the
partnership. “We’re all working with similar constraints in terms of space, storage, and
scheduling,” he observed. “Instead of duplicating efforts to overcome those costly hurdles, PAEC aims to do what theater-makers do best: collaborate and create to solve the problem.”
Having secured a feasibility grant last year from the Mass Cultural Facilities Fund, PAEC is now in the process of researching audiences’ and organizations’ needs before it starts on the next stage of its project: identifying and evaluating possible sites for development. It is also actively fundraising so it can match the next major grant it has targeted from the Cultural Facilities Fund.
To support that fundraising effort, starting with its December production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Valley Players will be adding a $2 PAEC Fee to its tickets. “That money is going directly to one goal,” notes Pangallo: “building a home for the arts in Amherst.”
Combined, PAEC’s organizations stage nearly 50 shows a year, involving nearly 1,000
community members. They also have a tremendous broader impact on the region. “Together,
PAEC member organizations attract thousands of audience members each year, support local
businesses, and contribute substantially to the regional economy,” the group states.
Pangallo sees an alignment between that support of the larger community and Valley Players’
own mission. “Valley Players’ lives its commitment to our community by donating half of our
net ticket revenue from each show to another nonprofit serving our region. Since our founding in 2024, we’ve raised over $7,000 for organizations including Cancer Connection, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, River Valley Counseling Center, Community Action Pioneer Valley, the Peace Development Fund, the Literacy Project, Way Finders, and Center for New
Americans.” The company’s upcoming performances of Bryna Turner’s comedy At the Wedding, going up October 1–4 at the Amherst Woman’s Club, will raise funds for the LGBTQ+ youth support organization Out Now.
“Having a home we can count on will strengthen that mission,” Pangallo reflects, “by letting us
focus even more on the work of making community theater to move, to matter, together.”
More information about PAEC, including how to donate to the group, is at paec-arts.org.
More information about Valley Players, including how to donate and how to get tickets for At the Wedding, is at valleyplayers.org.