Victor Lirio

VICTOR LIRIO is an actor, director and theater producer (Artistic Director, Diverse City Theater Co.) based in New York City. Recent stage appearances include LONG SEASON at Huntington Theatre, DUET at EST's Octoberfest and in Ioannis Limtsioulis's PARIS & ALEXANDER (as Paris). He appeared in Linda Faigao-Hall's critically acclaimed production of THE FEMALE HEART (dir. Jamie Richards) at the first National Asian American Theater Festival and in Tennessee Williams's I CAN'T IMAGINE TOMORROW (dir. Gregory Simmons) at Ensemble Studio Theater (EST). He will be seen in a feature film, entitled MANSLAUGHTER, written & directed by Conrad Jackson, for Hunga Rican Entertainment (Freddie Prinze Jr., Exec. Producer). In August-September 2009, he directed the critically acclaimed production of Warren Bodow's RACE MUSIC at Theatre Row's The Beckett Theatre.

Other theater credits include lead roles in Stuart Harris's ONNA FIELD (dir. Carlos Armesto); Jorshinelle Taleon-Sonza's COLD FLESH (dir. Adam Fitzgerald); Chay Yew's THE LONG SEASON at The Public Theater (dir. Peter Dubois); the 10th anniversary revival of Howard Korder's BOYS' LIFE (dir. Anders Cato); world premiere of Prince Gomolvilas's SEATBELTS AND BIG FAT BUDDHAS; Ma-Yi Theatre Company's NOLI FANTASYA (dir. Ralph Pena) and several new works at EST's OCTOBERFEST including DUET, LARRY MY FRIEND, IMMATERIAL IMPLICATIONS, SAMUEL & SALKOW, LEG WRESTLE and OUR PATRIOTS' SONS & DAUGHTERS. In addition, he was in two revival productions of THE KING & I: 1996 Broadway, 1st national tour which starred Oscar winner Hayley Mills (dir. Christopher Renshaw) and California Musical Theater (dir. John De Luca) as The Interpreter and Angel George. He has studied with renowned teacher and highly acclaimed actor, Obie Award winner Deborah Hedwall, and has been actor in-residence at EST's Summer Conference in Lexington, NY since 1999. A trained dancer, he studied with Richard Gibson at Academy of Ballet in San Francisco. His voice can be heard on several campaigns for Mercedes Benz, MCI and Fabreze .

He developed and produced with EST, under the artistic leadership of the late Curt Dempster, the acclaimed March 2005 production of NEA-honoree Linda Faigao-Hall's THE FEMALE HEART (dir. Jamie Richards) at Theatre Row. He initiated and launched Diverse City Theater's (DCT) GREEN ROOM SERIES, an annual reading festival of original plays by emerging and established playwrights which have included Warren Bodow, Joe Byers, Lee Errickson, Stuart Harris, Amy Hartman, Jorshinelle Taleon-Sonza, Lydia Stryk, Susan Tammany and Rahul Varma, as well as award-winning playwrights Michael Gurr and Cassandra Medley. Victor also established the FIRST DRAFT FELLOWSHIP (FDF), a playwriting mentorship program awarded to young playwrights.

For DCT's Mainstage 2008, Victor directed Cassandra Medley's award-winning play, NOON DAY SUN, to critical and audience acclaim earning nominations to the prestigious Audelco Awards including Best Dramatic Production of the Year (2008) and Best Play (2008).

For DCT Green Room, he directed PAPER SON by Christine Toy Johnson, QUARTER CENTURY BABY by Kristine Reyes, RACE MUSIC by Warren Bodow, RESURRECTION by award-winning playwright Eric Gamalinda, HOW TO COOK ADOBO by Palanca Award recipient Jorshinelle Taleon-Sonza's, and Kathleen Tolan's A WEEKEND NEAR MADISON. In addition, he directed Harold Augenbraum's adaptation of Dr. Jose Rizal's NOLI ME TANGERE for The Knights of Rizal.

In 2007, he developed and produced three one-act plays about mature women and their generation in a production entitled SNAPSHOTS (Theatre Row) which the New York Times called "'gutsy' ... 'touching' ... and 'a quality not often seen in New York theater.'" It was named in the New York Times critics choice for new and noteworthy on August 24, 2007.

In 2006, he conceived, commissioned and produced DCT's EQUALITY PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL 2006 (Theatre Row), a festival of four one-act plays about "gender identity issues in the 21st century." Paulanne Simmons of nytheatre-wire.com wrote: " ... [The plays] show the originality and energy that make Diverse City Theater a company to watch. Diverse City Theater is still in its youth, but it exhibits the kind of thoughtfulness in the face of difficult subject matter one would like to see more of in today's theater. "

In November 2005, Victor presented Tony Award winner Lea Salonga in a sold-out and critically acclaimed concert at Carnegie Hall benefiting DCT which also featured guest artists Liz Callaway, Andrea McArdle and Paolo Montalban (dir. Richard Jay-Alexander, music dir. Kevin Stites). It was named in Playbill's TOP 10 BEST OF 2005 and was declared "a triumph!" by Andrew Gans.

He has been an invited speaker at Pittsburgh Playhouse/Point Park University, for The Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting panel, The Filipino-American Young Professionals Summit at The Philippine Consulate General, and the Collaborative Opportunities for Raising Empowerment panel.

Under his artistic leadership, DCT received a nomination for Actors' Equity's The Rosetta Lenoire Award for "outstanding contribution made to the universality of the human experience in the American theater" (2008 & 2009), was honored by Disney Foundation's Volunteer Community Fund (2006 and 2008), and the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Award (2008).

Victor is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild.