Aaron Compagna

Aaron Michael Compagna was born in Manchester, NH to Roger Compagna, a portrait photographer and Constance Compagna, an insurance claims adjuster. In 1995, at 17, he moved to New York City to get his bachelor's degree in Acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He studied with the Atlantic Theatre Company, Stonestreet Studios and Experimental Theatre Wing. He had a pretty dry 11 years of not getting much work. In 2006, at age 28, he became disenchanted with the acting world, and swore it off for good, moving back to his home town in NH to try and find some other course in life. Little did he realize how much the community theatre scene exploded in the area of his own home town. He speculates that this was due to the advent of an annual award ceremony for NH theatre that began in 2002. He started volunteering behind the scenes with community theatre companies with whom he performed in shows as a child, and within a year or so of doing that, began to get jealous of people auditioning for roles that he was sure he was perfect for. Thus began a not-very-subtle return to the stage in NH. Within the next three years, he performed in 15 full length productions, most of which were as leads or significant secondary characters, as well as various stage festivals and staged readings. He was enjoying a more prolific artistic life in NH than he ever did in NY or LA. Connection in theatre lead to connections in film, and thus he became involved in the 48 hour film festival, in which film makers have exactly 48 hours to write, shoot, and edit a film entirely from scratch. He has always been fascinated with the process of film making.