Within the first month of Nicholas Lampietti `25 arriving at Grinnell College — bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as he puts it — he auditioned for Infinite Coincidence, a long-form improv group. Tagging along with his first-year roommate Henry Coen `25, Lampietti had no idea at the time that improv would become such a crucial part of his college experience.
“I was like, ‘What do I have to lose?’” Lampietti said. “It’s college, you try everything once. And it is sort of crazy because I could have never anticipated that being such a pivotal part of my experience and getting to grow up and go from being a tiny little first year to where I am now.”
After a convincing audition as a football coach advocating for Sunny D fountains, Lampietti has been a part of the improv group ever since.
“I never would have considered myself somebody who could write, or do improv, or really actually intentionally think about being funny,” Lampietti said. “And that was like a window into a whole new world.”
Ever since he was young, Lampietti has been drawn to the art of storytelling. On a road trip to Córdoba, Argentina, Lampietti and his family were listening to a 2015 episode of “This American Life,” a radio show featuring true short stories. Despite traveling across the Argentinian terrain, Lampietti found himself transported to the world of Somali refugee Abdi as he won a lottery that placed him on a short list for a U.S. visa.
“I remember thinking this story is so far away from me, but it feels like I’m living it right now,” Lampietti said.
From there, Lampietti immersed himself in the art of storytelling. Attending theater camps during the summer and helping out both on stage and back stage throughout middle school and high school, Lampietti names theater as his biggest outlet for storytelling.
Here at Grinnell, Lampietti has been involved with theater since his first semester. He has participated in a handful of full-length productions but mostly in one-act plays.
“Those were amazing opportunities to meet people not in my grade,” Lampietti said. “Great ways to connect with people that I would have otherwise not connected with.”
Lampietti is still having new experiences in theater, though. It wasn’t until this past semester that he participated in The Neverland Players, a student theater group that adapts local children’s stories into live shows.
“I really credit it with helping me hone in on why I want to tell stories in this way,” Lampietti said of his experience with Neverland. “It was the perfect continuation of improv because so much of it is improv, but you have a little more structure and time and a little more responsibility to the stories of the children.”
Lampietti has also been involved with podcasting at Grinnell, another storytelling outlet for him.
During a first-year exploratory career meeting at the Center for Careers, Life and Service (CLS), Lampietti said that he told his advisor, Exploratory Career Community Director Dani Perkins, that he was interested in podcasting. At the time, Katie Kriegel, former CLS exploratory advisor, was trying to start up the Going Forth podcast, a podcast featuring alumni and CLS advisors giving career advice.
At the beginning of January 2022, his second semester at the College, Lampietti said Kriegel emailed him asking if he was interested in helping to spearhead the podcast. He was hired on as a co-host with Meredith Benjamin `24.
“Not only was I getting to practice skills that I was really interested in and tell stories that I found really meaningful,” Lampietti said. “But then I got infinite free career advice and a chance to talk to some incredible, incredible people who do amazing things.”
Now, Lampietti is looking forward to writing a Western-style musical about the life and journey of the Buddha, a project that grew out of his fall 2023 study abroad experience in India.
“It’s sort of a combination of everything I’ve done at Grinnell and my craziest, wildest dreams,” Lampietti said, who is a sociology major with a concentration in peace and conflict studies.
During his time in India, Lampietti lived in a monastery and even shortly became a monk for ten days, vows and shaved head included. The idea for the musical arose during all the hours he spent meditating.
“You know, you spend a lot of time during meditation. And I of course have this lifelong love of the theater and know that Jesus has all these musicals about him,” Lampietti said, listing off “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” as examples.
“And I was sort of like, ‘Why the hell does Buddha not?’” Lampietti added.
Lampietti plans to rectify this lack of a musical about the Buddha starting on June 4, when he will return to India to begin research for his musical. The project was made possible by a national $10,000 Projects for Peace grant. He will be working with Gaurav Agarwal, a professor at Poddar International College in Jaipur, India, with whom Lampietti studied during his time abroad.
“I think there is an energy in India that I have found hard to find here and in other places in the world. You really do feel like there is this raging river in you,” Lampietti said.
“India is a huge country and I just saw a tiny little sliver,” he added. “So there’s so much more that I want to see.”
