Rising Stars: Meet Lory Tatoulian

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lory Tatoulian.

Hi Lory, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a comedian, writer and actor and since 2009, I have created, written and produced ten different installments of The Big Bad Armo Show – which is a comedic sketch show about the Armeian-American experience. The show is a cast of 10 people and we play over a 50 different characters throughout each show that includes social commentary and political satire. The past show include: The Big Armo Show, Big Bad Armo X-Mas, Big Bad Armo: World Domination, Dreaming of a Big Bad Armo Christmas, Best of The Big Bad Armo Show, The Big Bad Armo’s Are Coming for Christmas Dinner and Big Bad Armo Kef Time: Vol. 7, The Big Bad Armo Home for the Holidays and Big Bad Armo Summer Vacation and Big Bad Armogeddon. The Big Bad Armo Show has toured nationwide, including three sold-out runs Off-Broadway in New York, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. The shows main home is at the Colony Theater in Burbank. Currently, the show is featured in the new PBS documentary, What Will Become Of Us, directed by Stephanie Garoian Ayanian. I have also written and performed in two award-winning solo shows: Sitting Twisted, Talking Straight and Autosapiens that debuted at the San Diego Repertory Theater. I have also been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for my work in the theater and received three proclamations from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto and Kevin DeLeon for her theatrical contributions in Los Angeles. I also work as a teacher at The Groundlings – teaching improv and I work as a theater instructor at the Pasadena Unified School District. The first show I wrote and produced on my own way when I was 21-years-old and ever since then, I have been staging shows across Los Angeles and touring the United States. I trained at the Groundlings and received my BA in Theater from San Diego State University.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have been very fortunate to have produced ten big theater shows over the last nine years. I am happy to say that each run ends up being sold out and more than that the feedback and laughter and joy of the audience is the biggest reward. There are always challenges when producing a show, it’s a lot of work, but I come from such an amazing Armenian American community that it becomes almost family effort. The only challenge has been getting more Armenian American representation in mainstream media.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a comedic actress, my focus is sketch comedy and comedic plays and shows – I love playing all sorts of characters that inhabit the Los Angeles landscape, from your next-door neighbor in Glendale to celebrities to family members, etc. I own 150 wigs, I basically have a room in my house that is devoted to costumes and wigs. I have my show, The Big Bad Armo Show that holds up a fun house mirror to the Armenian American community. Here is a thorough description of the show that is written in the program:

Since 2009, The Big Bad Armo Show has garnered a large following with its witty and hilarious sketch pieces about the Armenian-American experience. The show has played Off-Broadway three times and now returns to its home at The Colony Theater. With a vast array of off-beat characters, illuminating cultural commentary, outlandish improv and down-right funny vignettes, the Big Bad Armo Show sheds laughter and insight on this community that has planted its marble column roots in the “hills of the Glendale”. From being the first nation to adopt Christianity to Kim Kardahsian, the show holds up a fun house mirror to the 10,000 years of cultural idiosyncrasies that have made up the Armenian diaspora. After 12 years of staging nine different installments of the show and over 100 sketches written featuring a host of deftly portrayed characters, the cast and crew are ready to poke fun at all the seriousness that engulfed the world since 2020. Written and created by N.E.A. grant recipient Lory Tatoulian, the LA Weekly wrote: “Playwright Lory Tatoulian turns this confusion into comedy gold in the Big Bad Armo Show. If anybody knows the holidays, it’s the Armenians — celebrating Christmas since 301 A.D.”

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I read the LA Times and the local Whittier Daily News everyday, to keep abreast of what’s going on in the world and in LA.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QEEqMzrVL8&t=291s
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorytatoulian/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lory.tatoulian
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ltatoulian
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrxV0jstkKIe5yxFiSYUIjQ

Image Credits:
Jake Hagopian Raffi Hadidian Nanor Avedissian