THE ART OF AWARENESS LORI TRIOLO
About Lori
Lori’s greatest influences as an artist came from watching some of history’s greatest actors performing on New York stages in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. Her parents were blue-collar, community theatre actors, singers and cultural enthusiasts always striving to give their two children an appreciation for the arts no matter what the cost.
High School was a special time, being mentored in the arts by teachers who understood that not every kid learns the same way. That work led to Lori’s creation of CineKids, a film outreach program geared toward helping youth discover and learn important life skills through the art of filmmaking (writing, acting, shooting).
Lori has been teaching the craft of acting since 1993 after gaining permission from her NYC alma mater, The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre where she had the privilege of studying with Sanford Meisner who was among an incredible faculty. Triolo’s focus as a teacher is the Meisner Technique and Fitzmaurice Voicework®. As a teacher in some of British Columbia's top university theatre programs as well as in her private practice, she strives to help bring actors closer to their truth by giving them the tools to connect to their physical, vocal and emotional instincts.
In addition to her teaching, Lori has been active in the theatre and film community in New York, Los Angeles, and Vancouver for over twenty years. She was previously the Artistic Director at Vancouver's Beaumont Stage for five years, bringing live theatre, music and film to the public. As co-founder of The Evolving Arts Collective, she is host to The Cold Reading Series which has been a staple event in Vancouver’s independent film and theatre scene since 1993. Long before moving to Vancouver she helped build the Belmont Italian American Playhouse in New York, a black box theatre which was home to works written and performed by minorities of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
As an actor, Lori has also been busy in film, television and theatre. She received B.C.'s Best Actress Leo Award and Leading Actress Jessie Award nominations for her work on the big screen and stage. Her selected stage credits include Ramifications of a Particular Crash, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Twelfth Night, Italian American Reconciliation, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball(Jessie Nomination),Where’s My Money?, Miss Julie, In the Eyes of God, and Stop Kiss. In the film and television arena, she has seen recurring roles on shows including Blackstone, Fringe, Continuum, Smallville, Supernatural, The 4400, Alice, I think, Cold Squad, Battlestar Gallactica, and Davinci’s Inquest.
In 2014 Lori was honored through the Vancouver chapter of Women in Film & Television with the Leadership in Education Award which recognizes excellence in the teaching of screen based media and creating opportunities for and providing mentorship to women.
Her work as an artist, actor, mentor and coach led her to becoming involved in theatre and film as a director and producer as well. She has directed numerous plays ranging from student to professional to solo show productions. And most recently she acted as producer and casting director for the Canadian independent feature film Lost Solace directed by Chris Scheuerman - a project which is now heading into the festival circuit.
Future projects as a producer are in the works as well as a move to bring her work as a teacher and coach to an even larger audience around the world.
About The Course
Art of Awareness is a combination of many modalities with a focus on bridging Fitzmaurice Voicework with The Meisner Technique or "FitzMeisner."
Working from the inside to outside, it is designed to cultivate a sense of trust of yourself by making the connection between your inner sensations, feelings, emotions, breath while communicating and allowing the outside world to effect your somatic/vocal experience.
The unknown seems to be what scares people the most. It causes great discomfort and unease both mentally and physically. As a result, people try to control every experience by subtly bracing themselves and holding their breath. Maybe the thing that scares us to express is the very thing our body is asking us to experience...but too often the brain judges that response and tries to stifle it. By bringing awareness and curiosity to your breath and body's responses you can begin to unravel habitual behavior while creating inner space to fill your acting with truly spontaneous life/behavior both physically and vocally.
Why can't the very experience that you, the actor, is feeling, be relevant for the character you're playing? Do you give your characters as much humanity as you do yourself? Do you even honor your own humanity by allowing it? Do you only express what your logical or judgemental brain says is appropriate? What does/could that cause? What if you didn't do that? What if you didn't always listen to your brain? What if, instead, you followed through on that feeling? What if by following through on that feeling it was transformed? What if the feeling you were afraid to feel moves through you and uncovers joy? Even while inhabiting the darkest character we need to feel a sense of joy in the building and creating of this soul.
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