Lou Malandra began his career in the Arts after graduating from Denver University earning the M.F.A. Degree in Acting (1974) and the M.A. Degree in Theatre (1972).  With classmate Phil Stephens, Lou created "A Stranger on the Earth", a one man play depicting the life of Vincent van Gogh as seen through the eyes of his brother, Theo.  Mr. Malandra opened the much heralded Perry Street Theatre in New York City with "Stranger" in 1976.  Malandra played Theo in major theatres and Universities for the next fourteen years.  Included were guest artist residencies with Purdue University, Arizona State University, Utah State University, and the University of Missouri.

Mr. Malandra was a resident actor for the first Denver Center Theatre, the Missouri Repertory Theatre, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Old Lyric Rep. in Utah, the Pittsburgh Playhouse, and the Theatre of Light in Manhattan from 1976 through 1984.

In 1984 Lou returned to Denver, "his last stop on earth", to become the Director of the Center for Performing Arts for Loretto Heights College.  Malandra held that position until the college closed in 1988.

That year, Lou became the Executive and Artistic Director for the Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton, Colorado.  While playing Oscar Madison for the Center in 1992, Malandra ruptured four disks in his lower back.  Subsequent surgery failed.  In 1993 doctors urged Lou to find work that no longer required him to "run and jump, sing and dance, all over a stage".

Malandra sought a new way to express art, "from somewhere quieter and deeper within".  God asked poetry to joyfully and swiftly call Lou.  It did.  Three days into Malandra's retreat, reflection, and silence before God, the phone rang.  The City and County of Denver asked Lou to serve as Poet Laureate of DIA.  Darrell Anderson, noted Denver artist, recommended Lou after seeing him perform original poetry in concert with the Denver Brass at the Temple Events Center.

Two pieces were commissioned by the City.  Natives and Nomads, a dedication to the more than 22,000 construction workers overlooking the airport.  Stewards of the People was specially sculptures of construction workers overlooking the airport.  Stewards of the People was specially embossed and signed for the thousands of City government employee's who managed the construction of DIA.  Stewards was chosen as part of the DIA time capsule celebrating the opening of the airport in 1995.

In the Fall of 1995, Malandra formed the Lou Malandra Trio, a dynamic union of poetry and jazz, featuring the highly accomplished, longtime El Chaupultepec house pianist, Doug Roche, and the legendary Denver Bassist, Ron Bland.  Swallow Hill Music Association produced the Trio's first concern, November 10, 1995.  Since then, the Trio's performed the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Vartan Jazz club, the West End in Boulder, the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in the Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, and schools, from elementary through college throughout Colorado venues.

January 14, 1998, the Lou Malandra Trio released its first Compact Disc, "Out of our Silence".  The album has met with great audience appeal and critical response having been reviewed by the finest poetry and jazz magazines from New York to L.A.  The Lou Malandra Trio is currently in the studio recording their second album of PoeJazz, "Inside You", while maintaining an active concert schedule.

Malandra has performed his original poetry in concert with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at Boettcher Concert Hall, with the Denver Brass and Aries Brass at the Denver Botanic Gardens Summer Concert Series, with James Van Buren and the Group, and Andrei Voznesensky, Russia's Poet Laureate, in concert, Purdue University.  Malandra served as "House Poet" at the Alpine Lodge in Westcliffe, Colorado for a number of years reciting poetry, "in front of the sweetest fireplace", in the heart of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Currently, Mr. Malandra maintains a daily pace on his next book of poetry, An Ordinary Child's Drama.  A book of poems from within the soul of a child abandoned and sexually abused; an odyssey of faith into birth as a man, peaceful, secure, and loved.

Through his company, ALM Publications & Recordings, Lou published two other books of poetry, "Reflections of a Personal Nature", and "From the Beginning".  Mr. Malandra can be heard as the Narrator on "Jesus, the Last Mile", a Devotional work for orchestra and choir in fifteen movements by Colorado composer, Mitch Samu, released, July, 1998.

Mr. Malandra recites original poetry for weddings, funerals, children's gatherings, and various service organizations around the United States.

Mr. Malandra has written three plays.  "All About Us", all about being 18 in an 80's America, produced by the Pittsburgh Playhouse Theatre.  "Working/Waiting for Lefty" adapted from the Studs Terkel book and Clifford Odets play, a multimedia, audience interactive, insight into the Godliness of work to the American culture, produced by Loretto Heights College.  "Cosima", a Balle'dram, depicts the life of Cosima Liszt, von Bulow, Wagner through dance and dialogue, produced by the Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton, Colorado with the David Taylor Dance Theatre.

Lou Malandra resides with his twenty year old Son, Anthony, and their, Italian dog, Guido, in their newly rebuilt home and studios in downtown Littleton, Colorado. Mr. Malandra remains active in Education and teaches for Veterans UpWard Bound on the Auraria Campus; a program for Veterans scarred by war that helps them earn a college education. For enjoyment, Lou walks forests and fields, reads great books, and cooks pasta for his friends.