OLTL: Another nice article about John Loprieno's return to Llanview

From: http://www.vcreporter.com/article.php?id=4...mp;IssueNum=132

New life to live

Actor and Moorpark College instructor John Loprieno steps back into the “well-loved jeans” of soap opera hunk Cord Roberts — for one day, at least

~ By MARISSA LANDRIGAN ~

e stood at the alter, opposite his soon-to-be-wife, played by Marcia Cross, now of Desperate Housewives fame, when suddenly his former wife, Tina, rushed in, panting and clutching a baby to her chest. “Stop!” she said desperately. “Am I too late? Cord, this is your son.” With those words, she collapsed, leaving everyone at the wedding to wonder what the dashing Cord Roberts would do next.

Nowadays, life isn’t quite as dramatic for former One Life to Live star and current Moorpark College instructor John Loprieno, but he will get to relive a moment of his former soap opera days this August. To celebrate the 10,000th episode of the long-running show, ABC is inviting back a number of former cast members to reprise their roles. Loprieno, who played Cord Roberts from 1985-1997, says returning to the show is like “putting on an old pair of well-loved jeans.”

Since leaving the show in 1997, Loprieno’s theatrical career has been almost as varied as the plotlines of One Life to Live. As a writer, director and now teacher, he has been able to explore many facets of the world of theater. In fact, says Loprieno, it was his experience on the soap that inspired him to start writing.

“After 13 years, I just felt they had run out of stories for me,” he says. “So I started writing, thinking that maybe I could come up with something better.”

Ten years later, Loprieno has written episodes for some of Hollywood’s biggest shows, including Star Trek: Voyager, E.R. and even his old haunt One Life to Live, where he functioned as a staff writer for two years. In addition, he has penned several screenplays, including a family-friendly holiday movie currently in the works. After several years of teaching part-time at Moorpark College, Loprieno joined the full-time staff a year ago, and is relishing his new role as mentor to future actors, directors and writers.

In the last year, Loprieno has directed two shows and implemented a battery of online theater classes, an accomplishment he says is no easy task, given the interactive nature of acting and writing. He and the other staff at Moorpark have found a way, now offering Introduction to Theatre, Theatre History and for the first time this summer, Playwriting, taught by Loprieno, online.

In addition to teaching over the summer, Loprieno will be directing a production of Scapino! at the college, a show that continues a trend in his life toward more family-oriented work. The “family farce,” as he calls it, is a “silly, silly comedy, with a lot of laughs and hilarious actors. We’re really encouraging families to come as a whole.”

Perhaps life does imitate art, or vice versa. Since leaving the show, Loprieno has grown up, and so, as he found when returning for his guest episode of the soap opera, had his old character. Loprieno says the best part about returning to the show was getting to play a new side of Cord — that of a father with adult children — that was never seen before. “Now that Cord’s kids are grown, I really get to show him in a parental light, which is a new, exciting dynamic.”

As for what the future holds, sorry ladies: Loprieno isn’t planning a big comeback to the soap world. He is enjoying where he is now, and plans to stay at Moorpark College for a long while. The former “hero to the rescue” actor is finding a more subtle way to reach out in the world of theater — mentoring the next generation.

“I really enjoy helping new writers find their voice, and pushing the cutting edge of what’s new in theater,” Loprieno says, “and that’s what I love about Moorpark.”

Don’t be surprised if you do see Loprieno coming to a stage near you, however. One of the best parts about his teaching schedule is it still allows him the time to act whenever the chance comes along — a wave he is still riding from his days on the soaps. Besides, he acknowledges, once the theater bug has bitten, there is no escaping it, whether in the worlds of acting, directing or writing.

“As I tell my students, once you’ve got the passion, it becomes a lifelong pursuit,” Loprieno says. “As a writer, you’re always learning about human nature, always trying to explore conflict and the human experience. That’s what artistic expression is all about.”

Scapino! runs from July 19 - Aug. 4. Info: www.moorparkcollege.edu/theater

07-12-2007