Victoria (Vic) Melkonyan
Victoria Melkonyan is a West Asian artist based in California. Through the lens of actor, director, and writer, Victoria actively pursues, uplifts, and creates stories for and by People of the Global Majority. They are an alumnus of California State University, Long Beach with a BA in Theatre Performance and also studied with the SITI Company. Through both their art and activism, they hope to increase visibility for SWANA (MENA) and all who are absent from the mainstream in various performance/storytelling mediums. From the very beginning of their artistic career and education, Victoria has made it a point to face systemic issues head on and embraced the art of calling in and calling to action in everything that they do. They are very excited by the awakenings happening currently between the masses and hope to aid in bringing a sense of revolution and radicalization to the spaces they occupy.
Pronouns:
They/them or She/her
Sandboxes played in:
Actor+Director+Writer+Activist+Educator
Degrees & Certifications:
BA in Theatre Performance from CSULB
Affiliations:
SITI Company Alumnus, BLKLST, Theatre Threshold
What do you teach:
Acting
Teaching Philosophy, in a nutshell:
You don't shape yourself to fit the work, you shape the work to fit you. The biggest mistake made in acting training, I think, is to push the young actor to fit a certain model or aesthetic, subconsciously (and consciously) derived by the Western canon and all of the (White) acting greats. I make it a point to say fuck that.
Most memorable performance:
I was once able to step onstage as a Middle Eastern woman for a brief scene in a devised piece and it was the most empowering moment I've had onstage thus far.
Most embarrassing moment:
I once collapsed onstage mid-line of Lady Macbeth's big act 1 monologue. Sank down to my knees and fade to black. I'll be forever peeved because I'll never be able to create a more dramatic performance moment in my career, losing consciousness seems to take the cake. I guess some of us peak young.
Something we wouldn't know if you didn't tell us:
I beat out my entire elementary school in a reading contest in the 1st grade.