VICTOR LIRIO

Theatremaker with a passion for text-based impact theatre — works that delve into current social issues. His critically acclaimed work spans New York, London, and Manila and explores psychological realism, epic theatre, and post-dramatic expression of classical and contemporary text. Trained in Stanislavski/Uta Hagen, Meisner, and classical text (LAMDA) as an actor. Holds a Master of Arts in Drama Directing from Bristol Old Vic. He/him. www.victorlirio.com

Credits

Victor recently helmed an international production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal for Repertory Philippines at Carlos P. Romulo Theatre for the play's Manila premiere (March 2024). He was Resident Director on Tom Morris's critically acclaimed production of Dr Semmelweis (starring Mark Rylance) at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End (Bristol Old Vic, National Theatre, Sonia Friedman Productions; July - Oct 2023). He directed the London premiere of Adam Rapp's Pulitzer Prize nominated play, Red Light Winter, at The Turbine Theatre (Oct 2021). He was associate and resident director for the New York premiere of the musical, Islander, a production transfer from Southwark Playhouse (April - June 2022). Victor was recipient of the Classical Directing Fellowship at the Old Globe (March 2023). He directed Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg (BOVTS Studio; Feb 2020) and—while in lockdown—produced and directed full production live broadcasts of Edward Allan Baker plays North of Providence and Dolores on Bristol Old Vic at Home (August 2020).

In New York, Victor directed Cassandra Medley's Coming Up for Air, a full length play about climate change (recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Grant), for Ensemble Studio Theatre’s First Light Festival starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins and Cell, a play about African American women working at an immigrant detention center in Michigan, with four-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad (Showtime’s Billions, A Doll’s House Part 2).

He directed the world premiere of Warren Bodow’s Race Music (New York Times Critic's Choice); Cassandra Medley’s award-winning Noon Day Sun (Time Out New York Critic's Choice), with Obie and Emmy Award winner Ron Cephas Jones (NBC’s This is Us), Gin Hammond, Michael McGlone (Brothers McMullen, Person of Interest), and Melanie Nicholls-King (HBO's The Wire) earning several nominations for the Audelco Awards including Best Dramatic Production of the Year.

Victor was founding artistic director of Diverse City Theater (DCT) in New York. Under his artistic leadership, DCT launched the Green Room Series, an incubator program that developed over 35 original plays. He produced 18 of them in ten productions at Theatre Row including three theater festivals—The Equality Plays Festival (plays about gender identity); Snapshots (plays about mature women, New York Times Critics Choice); and The Pearl Project (plays about Filipino-American diaspora). For the Green Room Series, he directed several new works in-development including Yussef El Guindi's Pilgrims Musa & Sheri in the New World (winner of the 2012 Steinberg Award for Best New Play). At Miami Theater Center, he directed Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy (mainstage) and Neil Labute’s The Mercy Seat (The SandBox Theatre).

Victor has written for and directed Tony and Olivier Award winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Disney’s Aladdin and Mulan) award-winning and critically-acclaimed solo concerts in Manila, Philippines at the PICC (Best Major Concert of the Year, Aliw Awards), in San Francisco at the Nourse Auditorium as well as in New York's legendary venues: Kaleidoscope at The Town Hall, the New York Times acclaimed Back to Before at Café Carlyle, and Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Concert Series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. With special permission from Mr. Stephen Sondheim, he wrote and directed Suites by Sondheim, a star-studded concert event at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. He produced Ms. Salonga's sold-out Carnegie Hall concert debut at Isaac Stern Auditorium.

He has taught master classes at University of Miami's and Point Park University's Theater Arts Conservatory and has been an invited speaker at Pace University, Syracuse University, and The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting panel in New York. On television, his theatre directing work has been featured on NBC's Saturday Morning Show and NY1.

Training

MA Directing, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Classical Acting, London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art
Classical Directing Fellowship, The Old Globe
Stanislavski-Uta Hagen, Deborah Hedwall (New York City)
Meisner, Ron Stetson (New York City)
Shakespeare Rhetoric, Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA)
Resident Artist, Ensemble Studio Theatre (New York City)