In 2005, Lopa had something to get off her chest. A story that lived somewhere deep in her, in her blood. It was the story of her grandfather but she had no idea how to (re)(un)(dis)cover it until she met Diane. Diane’s Personal Legacy methodology is a perfect fusion of embodied exploration with solid research; it complimented Lopa’s previous training and was a great support to carry her through such a deep exploration of her roots. Lopa received an Intersectional Initiatives Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts in 2008 to begin work on The Vermillion Project with Diane and the first draft was presented in 2009.
In 2007, Lopa was awarded a Shastri Arts Fellowship to teach voice and to study with one of the fathers of modern Bengali theatre, Badal Sircar. During the fellowship, she performed in her mother tongue, Bengali, with two of West Bengal’s most prominent Third Theatre companies, Satabdi and Pathasena.
Lopa’s work as a performer has taken her to stages across Canada, Dublin, and to Kolkata, India. She has a great love for contemporary storytelling that unearth truths across generations. A voice coach at heart, Lopa earned her MFA in Acting and teaching Voice at York University in 2010. She has taught at York and Humber College in Toronto and through her company Lopa Sircar Voice.
