Alessandra is the daughter of actors Paolo Panelli and Bice Valori. She grew up breathing theater air, loved the stage, and became an intelligent and sensitive actress herself. She played brilliant roles—comic and dramatic—earning critical acclaim and the applause of full houses.
Then, almost without warning, came her great choice: Alessandra left the stage and her company of fellow actors—though she has kept close, frequent ties with them—to devote herself to the world of disability. She completed a course in community education and now works as an operator at the ALM Center in Lazio, where she co-runs with Antonio Grieco the workshop called "Diverse Abilities." Out of that workshop grew the Theater Group, where Grieco designs sets and costumes while Alessandra directs and coaches the actors.
"Why? How did you come to this choice?" we asked her. Alessandra answered with a smile and conviction—the manner of someone who had wrestled long with the decision, but had found peace and certainty in her new life. "In recent years, I was no longer happy with my work, even though my colleagues and the environment were as good as anyone could wish for, given theater's difficult straits. The artistic side grew more and more demoralizing. The pressure to give audiences what they wanted in our choice of scripts, the need to watch the box office—it all fed my sense of unease. It became hard even to talk with friends, to feel understood by them. At the same time, an old interest was waking up in me. I would see someone on the street—an unkempt beard, wild clothes, the restless eyes of a young man—and feel this pull to reach out, to know more. Later I realized I had a gift: a special access code for people others find difficult."
So Alessandra made her choice. She would no longer act on stage, but she would not abandon theater. Her love for it found new purpose, merging with that ancient, particular gift. With a team of set designer, speech therapist, physical therapist, and music therapist—and help from many volunteer friends—she produces professionally caliber productions featuring twenty-five actors with various disabilities. And the critics, once again, are on her side. We'll tell you more about all this, and the future plans for the "Diverse Abilities" workshop, in a coming issue of Ombre e Luci.
— Maria Teresa Mazzarotto, 1998