Personal Timeline

Born:ALLENTOWN,PA
LIVES:SAN FRANCISCo

2024 joined the cast of karen zacarias’ comedy ‘the Book Club Play’at Ross valley players

2023 joined the BOARD of Crowded Fire Theater

2020 joined the faculty of the ruth asawa school of the arts in San francisco as director of both musical theatre & Theatre programs.

2019 co-produced public programming around jimmy lopez’ oratorio “Dreamer” with Cal Performances

2018 co-produced the bay area premiere of young jean lee’s play “church”

2018 Named the third Artistic director in the history of oakland school for the arts

2018 World Premiere: New adaptation of The Threepenny opera (Writer)

2015 chair,
School of Theatre
OAkland School for the arts

2012 CHAIR, 
MUSICAL THEATRE DEpt
THEATRE TECH DEPT
RUTH ASAWA SCHool
of the Arts
(san Francisco)

2010 SAn Francisco State University
graduate work +
Credential
(SECONDARY EDUCATION)

2004-2009 STAFF ACCOUNTANT, PREMIER RETAIL NETWORKS

2002 bachelor of arts
UC Berkeley
(ENGLISH, with honors)

1994 TORREY PINES
HIGH SCHOOL
(SAN DIEGO, CA)

OVERVIEW
Matthew is an educator and theatre artist. He lives in San Francisco with his husband Wade and their two unnervingly adorable dogs Poppi and Ramsey along with an equally unnerving amount of books. 

He is on the faculty of the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA) in San Francisco as the Chair of the Theatre Department and a member of the English Department Faculty. He was the Artistic Director/Principal of the Arts and the Chair of the Theatre Department at Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) where he was also on the faculty of the English and Social Science Departments.

He currently serves on the board of Crowded Fire Theater with whom he co-produced the Bay Area premiere of Young Jean Lee’s play Church during his time at OSA.

He is co-founder of San Francisco Summer Arts Collective which pairs established artists and young artists in an apprenticeship setting. He recently served as an arts education advisor to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. In 2017 he was selected for a grant award from Cal Humanities as part of their program Exploring the Legacy of Race and Ethnicity in California funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This is in recognition of his work in bridging the arts and humanities in education.

Matthew is a certified master teacher and coach who helps train and mentor teachers new to the profession through the El Dorado County Office of Education Teacher Induction Program (TIP).

TRAINING
Matthew earned a BA in English at the University of California, Berkeley. There he studied under two of the most respected scholars in medieval and Renaissance literature: Alan Nelson and the late Anne Middleton.  He specialized in Middle English language and literature.

He earned his Master’s in Teaching (MAT) from San Diego State University, with an emphasis on secondary education.

He trained as an actor primarily at ACT, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Upon These Boards, in directing at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and in playwriting at Central Works.

THEATRE PRACTICE
Matthew has been active in the Bay Area theatre scene for the better part of two decades, starting out as an actor with companies such as TheatreFIRST, Los Altos Stage Company, Porchlight Theatre Company, Mill Valley Shakespeare Festival, and Willows Theatre Company among others. He then turned to directing, mounting productions across the Bay Area, initially specializing in classical theatre and later expanding to theatre of all periods and genres. 

His focus on voice and text has made him a sought-after coach in these areas, and he has been working with actors and theatre companies in addition to implementing voice and text pedagogy at OSA.

After a multi-year hiatus to focus on his education career, Matthew returned to directing for the stage with a reading of Jez Butterworth’s The River for Town Hall Theatre’s second stage series, and recently participated in a development reading for a new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion with Butterfield 8 Theatre Company. Before that his directing and acting work could be seen on stages throughout the Bay Area.

Matthew began as a playwright by adapting Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice for Theatre Bay Area's Shakespeare Marathon. Since then his adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and world premiere original play Salome have been given full productions in the Bay Area. He recently completed a new version of Euripides' tragedy The Trojan Women set in Oakland which received its world premiere as part of Heart of Oakland: Oakland School for the Arts Showcase.  Matthew's site-specific play Walls' Fall -  written for performance at the Getty Mansion in San Francisco - received its world premiere there in April 2016 in front of an audience of prominent artists and arts philanthropists. 

While at OSA, Matthew was awarded a grant by Cal Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities for his efforts to bridge the arts and the study of history. Most recently he created and premiered a new adaptation of The Threepenny Opera.

In 2017 he joined the literary committee of Crowded Fire Theatre and has established co-production partnerships with them, Ubuntu Theatre Project, and with Theatre of Yugen. 

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION (OSA)
Matthew was the Artistic Director at OSA and served as its Career Technical Education Coordinator.

As Artistic Director he created or expanded artistic partnerships, most notably with Cal Performances with whom he co-produced public programming around the world premiere of Dreamer, a world premiere oratorio by Jimmy Lopez and Nilo Cruz. He worked to increase OSA’s visibility in the community and expand its focus on embracing the city that it calls home.

He also focused on creating a well-rounded educational experience for students by integrating arts and academic content, standards, and teaching practices. His dual expertise in humanities and arts practice and education have given him the unique ability to bridge those worlds for the benefit of students.

EDUCATION CONSULTING/OUTREACH/PROJECTS
He is also passionate about passing on his training to others and has taught courses in acting, writing, audition technique, arts history, and dialects at schools and theatre companies throughout the region.

Matthew is co-founder of the San Francisco SummerArts Collective, created in association with Workshop Residence. The program pairs established artists with young practitioners in an immersive two-week apprentice program ending in a gallery showing. There Matthew has shown his work in text-based installation and site-specific poetry. 

His broad expertise has lead to teaching and lectureships at Contra Costa College, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, among other training and education institutions. He has spoken on issues relating to the arts ecosystem and equitable access to the arts at various organizations, including the Oakland Leadership Institute and Ohlone College.

He served as education advisor to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which sought his expertise in cultural/literary theory and making it accessible in the secondary education classroom. Matthew consulted on an online database of lesson plans and materials for teachers to use in supplementing their humanities curriculum with paintings and sculptures from the permanent collection of the Legion of Honor. 

Matthew has held faculty positions at the Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, where he was an artist-in-residence teaching theatre history, aesthetics, and introductory stage design. He went on to briefly chair the Musical Theatre and Theatre Technology departments before his departure to Oakland School for the Arts (OSA).

IN THE CLASSROOM
For OSA Theatre, Matthew spearheaded the reinvention of its playwriting/directing program into the only four-year program of its kind in the country at the high school level. Students from this unique new program have already gained admission to UCLA's prestigious Integrated Studies Sequence, the Goldman School of Dramatic Writing at NYU, Carnegie Mellon's dramaturgy BFA program, and the BA-Theatre in writing and directing and the comedy writing program at Emerson College.  

As a teacher of acting his focus has been on text and voice, joining the methods and techniques of Cecily Berry and Kristin Linklater with the acting theories of Stanislavski and Michael Chekhov. OSA's intense focus on text makes it unique among pre-professional training programs. He has introduced intensive and sustained Noh Theatre training into the curriculum as a major context for Chekhov’s work.

At SOTA he has directed productions of Hamlet, Eurydice, Marisol, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Urinetown: The Musical and in the fall of 2023 The Importance of Being Earnest.

He regularly directed mainstage productions at OSA, most recently Young Jean Lee’s Church, Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, and Marcus Gardley's ...And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi. He has also curated theatre festivals and spearheaded public programming around them. These have included a festival dedicated to the plays of Samuel Beckett, the first complete Bay Area staging of The Oresteia in nearly 15 years, and for 2019 he has organized the first-ever OSA Latinx Theatre Festival. 

In his role as chair he continues to develop collaborations with respected local arts organizations such as Cal Performances, Crowded Fire Theatre, Ubuntu Theatre Project, St. Mary's College of California, and San Francisco Opera. 

Matthew's students in all fields of theatre have gained admission to BFA and BA programs at NYU-Tisch, Guildhall, Carnegie Mellon, CalArts, Emerson College, Boston University, UCLA, USC, University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre, University of the Arts, Pace University, Columbia College Chicago, The New School, and elsewhere.

As a member of the English Department at OSA, Matthew's focus has been largely on pre-1900 literature, and he has had the chance to leverage his scholarly background and interests.  Specific units he has developed have included those on poetics, Old/Middle English literature and language, medieval feminisms, literary translation, novel theory, linguistics, and semiotics. He also introduced OSA's first-ever course in Literary Theory.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
(PRESENT & PAST*)

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA)
Chair, Theatre Department
Faculty, English Department

Oakland School for the Arts*
Artistic Director/Principal of the Arts
Chair, Theatre program
Faculty, English and Social Science Departments

Crowded Fire Theatre
Board / Literary Committee / Educational + Producing Partner

Theatre of Yugen*
Educational + Producing Partner

Ubuntu Theater Project*
Educational + Producing Partner

San Francisco Summer Arts Collective*
Co-Director & Writer-in-Residence [Program Site]

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco*
Advisor, Secondary Education Curriculum & Arts Integration

Academy of Arts & Sciences (San Francisco)*
English Department Faculty

Staged Hereafter*
Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival*
Resident Dramaturg & Speech Coach

San Leandro Players Theatre Company*  
Resident Director & Playwright

Theatre Companies
Willows Theatre Company, TheatreFIRST, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Los Altos Stage Company, Mill Valley Shakespeare Festival, Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival,  Palo Alto Players, Upon These Boards, Staged Hereafter, Dragon Theatre. 

Educational Institutions
Oakland School for the Arts, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mission High School (SF), Contra Costa College, Bay School of San Francisco, San Domenico School

EDUCATION

San Diego State University
MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching)
Emphasis: Secondary Education

University of California, Berkeley
BA, English
Emphasis: Poetry/Poetics, Medieval English Literature

San Francisco State University
Graduate Study: Secondary Education
Teacher Certification

El Dorado County Office of Education
Master Teacher / Teacher Induction Program (TIP)

Orange County Office of Education
Teacher Certification: Career Technical Education (CTE)

WORK IN EDUCATION                                                        

Chair, Theatre Department / English Department Faculty - Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
Principal of the Arts / Chair, School of Theatre - Oakland School for the Arts
Faculty, English Department - Oakland School for the Arts  
Literary Committee, Crowded Fire Theatre
Fellow, CTE/Career Pathways Institute (California Department of Education)
Co-Director & Writer-in-Residence, San Francisco Summer Arts Collective
Advisor, Secondary Education Curriculum & Arts Integration - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Chair, Theatre Technology Department & Musical Theatre Department - Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
Faculty, English Department - Academy of Arts & Sciences
Guest Lecturerships: Contra Costa College, SF Shakespeare Festival, YPTMTC,  Bay School of SF
 [*=currently]

THEATRE - DIRECTING
(selected credits)

Palo Alto Players
Our Country's Good  [press interview here] - "A transformative production" (Palo Alto Online) 

San Leandro Players Theatre Company
An Ideal Husband, Tartuffe, Arms and the Man, Suddenly Last Summer, Ghosts*, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Salome**, Mrs. Warren's Profession, The Importance of Being Earnest

* World premiere adaptation by Matthew Travisano
**World premiere original play by Matthew Travisano / Critics Choice - East Bay Monthly

Los Altos Stage Company (formerly Bus Barn Stage Company)
Arms and the Man
Picasso at the Lapin Agile [review here] - "Expertly directed" (The Almanac, SF Peninsula)

Dragon Theatre
The Heidi Chronicles - "Tightly directed" (Bay Area News Group) / "Quite evocative" (Metro Silicon Valley)

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley
The Matchmaker [review here] - "Nice touches" (Berkeley Daily Planet)

Douglas Morrisson Theatre
Life with Father

Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival
As You Like It  (Associate Director)
Othello (Voice/Text Coach)

THEATRE - PLAYWRITING

San Leandro Players Theatre Company
Ghosts - adapted from the play Henrik Ibsen
Salome - original play based on works by Oscar Wilde, Gustave Flaubert, and Hugo von Hofmannshtal

Oakland School for the Arts - School of Theatre
The Trojan Women -  new verse version based on the play by Euripides
The Oresteia - new verse version based on the trilogy by Aeschylus
Walls Fall (site-specific piece at the Getty Mansion)

Random Acts Theatre Company
The Merchant of Venice - adaptation created for Theatre Bay Area's Shakespeare Marathon

THEATRE - ACTING
(selected credits) 
 

Willows Theatre Company
1776  (role: Dr. Josiah Bartlett / director: Rich Elliot) 

YPTMTC - San Francisco
Spring Awakening (role: Adult Male / director: Nicola Bosco-Alvarez)

Mill Valley Shakespeare Festival
Love's Labours Lost (role: Boyet / director: Susannah Woods)

TheatreFIRST
The Colour of Justice (role: Clifford Norris / director: Randall Stuart)

Los Altos Stage Company
Pierre and Marie (role: Pierre Curie / director: Linda Piccone)

San Leandro Players Theatre Company
The Romantic Age (role: Gervaise / director: Daniel Dickinson)
Mary Rose (role: Simon / director: Daniel Dickinson)
The Comedy of Errors (role: Balthasar / director: Marilyn Langbehn) 

Random Acts Theatre Company
Hamlet (role:  Player King + Ensemble / director: John Wilk)
The Merchant of Venice (role: Bassanio / director: Debbie-Lynn Carriger)* 

Staged Hereafter
Romeo and Juliet (role: Paris / director: Susannah Woods)
The Lady's Not For Burning (role: Humphrey / director: Susannah Woods)

Act Now
Wit (role: Dr. Jason Posner / director: Jessica Tanner)

Porchlight Theatre Company
A Month in the Country (role: Narrator / director: Randall Stuart)*

Upon These Boards
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (role: Thailard + Ensemble / director: Randall Stuart)*
Lysistrata (role: Soldier / director: Randall Stuart) - Lysistrata Project @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre

* = full staged reading