Featured Friar: Nolan Donato ’22

by The Cowl Editor on February 14, 2019

Features

Donato ’22 performs at Rhode Island’s local club, The Met.

by Malena Aylwin ’22

News Staff

Nolan Donato ’22 has already made quite an impression on the theatre, dance, and film department. In only his first year at Providence College, Donato has already joined several clubs and organizations like the A capella group, theatre, and church choir.

Donato recounts his earlier childhood times, stating, “When I was around eight years old, I remember jokingly singing the national anthem to my parents and for some reason, my mom just told me to keep on singing. Truth be told I absolutely hated it,” he said.

He later added that nobody in his family had pursued the “artistic” road. “My family was primarily a hockey family; one of my brothers plays for the Bruins and the other one plays at Harvard. So obviously I was more of a sports kid; I used to play hockey all my life.”

“Around my junior year of high school, I realized how much I really like singing and from there on I started to pursue it more and more, and now I am actually doing it full time which has been amazing for me,” said Donato. He added, “I want to shout out to my family because when I realized that I wanted to sing instead of hockey, they have been more than supportive. I also wanted to say how great they have been with all of this.”

After finally realizing that he was going to pursue singing, he enrolled at PC as a theatre major. “When I first got to school I was lucky enough to join ‘Special Guests,’ an all-male A capella group. It’s a great group of people that I can kind of share a passion for music with. It has been a lot of fun doing that,” stated Donato.

He also talked about his experience as a theatre major, saying how he is involved with the theatre department at PC, specifically musical theatre. “The whole experience has been great and very fun —especially working in the Charlie Brown play,” said Donato.

Donato will appear this weekend, Feb. 15-17, in the famous Charlie Brown play, put on by the theatre department here at PC. “The people down there at the theatre department have been nothing but amazing,” recounted Donato. He took a moment to thank all of his teachers and current peers for their help and warm welcoming.

Aside from theatre and A capella, Donato also sings at the 10 p.m. masses on Sundays. He says that the experience has “been really life changing for me, so I am also very grateful for that.”

Donato also talked about people he has met and friends he has made. “There are a couple juniors and seniors in it, too, so that has helped me meet new people too.” This has helped him branch out and at the same time make friends in all of the organizations he has joined.

Donato wishes to pursue his artistic side in the future. “I definitely want to continue this, and it is something that I can hopefully pursue whether it is theatre or a solo career in the future,” he said.

He also stated that he is currently working on his music, saying, “Right now I’m in the works with a couple of things for my solo career which has been really good, I am just starting to put covers on the internet.”

He is very hopeful for his career and is certain that being here at PC has given him a better and broader look at what he loves. “Hopefully by the time I graduate I have a better sense of what I love, but for now I think it’s going great,” ended Donato.

You can find Donato’s music on SoundCloud under his name: Nolan Donato.