Shawn Spitaleri

Shawn Spitaleri was born on March 28, 1982 to June (maiden name private as is new married name) and David Spitaleri in Barberton, Ohio. Shawn was later raised in Nashville, Tennessee. His parents divorced when he was two years old. His mother remarried when Shawn was four years old. His step-father, John, Shawn refers to as his dad. Shawn chose not to be adopted by his step-father in order to keep his Sicilian last name. Shawn took great pride in sports activities as well as theatre while growing up. He excelled in school and after graduating high school and continuing on to college; Shawn joined a local Nashville acting troupe known as The Known World Players. Shawn learned hand to hand combat as well as stage fighting combat with a staff, broadsword, dagger, and rapier. Shawn played various characters during his time with KWP and he also would be asked to sing for certain appearances with other KWP members. In May 2002, while with the Known World Players, Shawn met Anne who joined the group to perform as a faerie and entertain children. Within two months time they became friends and Shawn asked her to be his girlfriend. They spent a lot of time together and learned a lot from each other. They both had a great passion for the renaissance festivals, music, movies, costumes, photography, and photo shoots among other things. Shawn asked Anne's father for her hand in marriage on September 1, 2002. In spring of 2003, Shawn and Anne decided to leave the Known World Players. Shawn married Anne in a pirate and faerie themed wedding on October 25, 2003 at Nashville's Centennial Park at the Rose Arbor. At the request of the bride for their reception, the groom and best man did a rapier and dagger fight choreographed by Shawn and his best man, Stephen Lewis. Friend and groomsman, Brandon Morrison, performed bullwhip tricks. The main entertainment was provided by Labyrinthe who consisted of two belly dancers and musicians. In 2004 Shawn landed a role as Tristram in the play "The Passage to Fey" written by long-time friend, Elizabeth Hayes and Eric A. Link. He was also featured in a local newspaper article with a picture of one of the lead characters and himself during fight rehearsals for the play. Later in the year Shawn and Anne wrote a poem together which was published in Tracing the Infinite which is put out by The International Library of Poetry. The poem was a rewrite of the 23rd Psalm and was titled "23rd Psalm - Egyptian Rewrite". In 2005 Shawn and Anne decided to audition for roles in the Tennessee Renaissance Festival cast. Shawn was cast as author, Christopher Marlowe, and Anne was cast as Sapphyre, the faerie. Another love they both shared was attending concerts together in different states and locally. Shawn and Anne both have a great passion for music. In November 2005, Phoenix, their first child was brought home after a U2 concert. As odd as it sounded to many, they were not ready for children so their first dog was their first child. Her birthday is October 5, 2005. She is a beautiful Lab/German/Chow mix who loves her daddy a lot and loves to get into trouble. In 2006 Shawn and Anne again tried out for the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Shawn was cast as Captain Francis Drake who would later be knighted at the end of each festival day by Queen Elizabeth I to become Sir Francis Drake. Anne was again cast as a faerie, this time playing Violet the faerie. At the end of season Shawn and Anne mutually agreed to leave the local renaissance festival. Before their third wedding anniversary Shawn and Anne brought home two lop-eared bunnies named Spirit (gray) and Black Magick (black). For Shawn and Anne this was their budding family. At one point during the year Shawn auditioned to play two small roles in a local film called "Nightmares from the Mind of Poe, a Willing Hearts Productions' feature. He was cast as a ghost and party guest. In July of 2007 tragedy hit the family when Anne's grandmother passed away. Both Shawn and Anne were very saddened by the sudden loss of such a wonderful lady. Shawn was very close to her and although both were very different people compared to the rest of the family, Anne's grandmother saw Shawn as her own grandson. With heavy sadness in his heart Shawn came home one night with their fourth child. They did not know what to call the small, white ball of fluff of a puppy. She looked like a little polar bear so for a few days she was called "Bear". They were uncertain how the older Phoenix would take to this small puppy. The new addition to the family quickly gained a name of Kya (middle name became Bear). She also grew to love her older sister Phoenix. Kya's mother is Great Pyrenees and that is all that is known of her. She is exactly like her daddy. She loves to snuggle, be silly, give hugs and kisses, she learns fast, has to be the center of attention and dramatic, and loves all things black. In December of 2007 tragedy struck the family again when Anne's uncle passed away shortly before the New Year. This was very hard for both of them to handle. Attending a funeral in January 2008 was not how the couple wanted to ring in the New Year. In order to make things a bit better, Shawn went all out for Anne's 29th birthday. He started it early so they could try to avoid the heartache from losing another family member. He took her out to dinner, a movie, and bought her brand new ear buds for the first part of her birthday. On her birthday, as has been tradition, he took her out to lunch at the local Hard Rock Cafe and earlier that morning surprised her with a beautiful faerie cake bought at a local bakery. The year continued to roll on as both worked and enjoyed time together with each other. A personal loss came to Shawn and Anne on April 11, 2008. Anne came home from work and she always greeted and took care of their children first. Anne went to visit Spirit and Magick only to find that Magick had passed away. For the couple who considered their pets to be their children, this was a heavy and great loss. They had already lost a grandmother and uncle and now were faced with the death of a child. Aside from theatre and his one time film debut (2006), Shawn is also very computer savvy. He also has a love for Egyptian history and has always wanted to learn to fly air planes. Shawn works hard bartending, serving, and cocktail serving. He was in two budding bands as a self-taught bass player. He realized his true passion (aside from the stage and film) is mixing his own techno music. To date Shawn has his own private CD of eight tracks he mixed using his laptop and a computer program. When time finally permits, Shawn will begin to pursue open auditions for local plays and films. He aspires one day to be in a major motion picture even if only to be an extra. Another love of Shawn's is modeling. He has taken a try at it a couple of times but hasn't been able to get signed on. This too is another dream he wishes to accomplish. Shawn also enjoys role playing, computer games, console games, reading, playing pool, bowling, softball and sometimes even martial arts. He has a knack for online poker as well as regular card playing poker. He also enjoys playing golf when time permits. As of fall 2008, Shawn enjoys time with family, friends, playing poker, working hard, and mixing techno music.