Catching Up With OLTL’s John Loprieno Page 2
Weekly: Did you remember meeting Shanelle (Workman, Flash) before? She tells me that she was on the show once before as a homeless girl and she ran into you in the hall. She was jealous because you had a lot of Betty Boop things for your daughter, and she loved Betty Boop.
Loprieno: When she reminded me of our encounter, it came back. And also, too, my daughter who’s now 18, when we were in New York, she loved Les Miz and we went to see it about six or seven times. So I remember seeing Shanelle in Les Miz. That came back to me. As soon as she told me she was Cosette, I was like, “That’s where I know you from.” And she said, “You know me from here, too,” and told me the story. To tell you the truth, I remember her more as Cosette. But she was great. I loved working with her.Weekly: So what have you been up to lately?
Loprieno: I’m teaching at Moorpark College, in California. As a matter of fact I’m directing Of Mice and Men right now. I had to rush back because we started rehearsal. And I’ve got a couple of screenplays that are in place. Just doing the writer/actor thing from here. I wrote a short Christmas play. It’s actually pretty exciting. Little things like that. Just raising my kids and doing that kind of thing.
Weekly: How old are your kids?
Loprieno: Daniele is 18 and was just accepted to Penn State, of which I’m very proud. Elise is 12 and John is 8.Weekly: Wow, you’re busy, huh?
Loprieno: Slightly. Yeah, my wife and I just went over my schedule last night and she’s like, “Oh, my god, I’m not going to see you until the end of March.”
Weekly: What are you teaching?
Loprieno: Acting. I teach various levels of acting, Introduction to Theater, Improvisational Comedy, Auditioning Techniques. I’m kind of the utility guy. Whatever’s open that semester, that’s where they plug me in.Weekly: And do you like L.A.?
Loprieno: Yeah. I miss the seasons. Lisa’s from Louisiana, so she’s used to the warm year-round. But I miss the seasons. It was real hard coming back to see my brother in Chicago over Christmas. But it was really cool. Although we didn’t get any snow. My kids were bummed about that. We got to wear sweaters, that was nice.Weekly: Do you see any ONE LIFE TO LIVE alumni out there?
Loprieno: Once in a while. Krista (Tesreau, ex-Tina) and I see each other every once in a while for coffee. Woods and I have had a couple of drinks when he’s come through for Super Soap. When they come through they give me a call and it’s cool to hook up.Weekly: It’s always like a nice family to come back to, isn’t it?
Loprieno: It really is. You spend so many years with people. God, I was there 13 years off and on, and you form these bonds with people.
Conversation
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