Denise Stoklos

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Denise Stoklos
Denise Stoklos GPS TV Brasilia.jpg
Stoklos in 2022
Born (1950-07-14) 14 July 1950 (age 75)
Irati, Paraná, Brazil
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Playwright
  • actress
Children2
Awards Guggenheim Fellowship (1993)

Denise Stoklos (born 14 July 1950) is a Brazilian playwright and actress. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993. She has written more than a dozen plays, most of them minimalist.

Contents

Biography

Denise Stoklos was born on 14 July 1950 in Irati, Paraná. [1] Her father worked as a film projector and film poster designer, and her paternal grandfather emigrated to the country from Ukraine. [2] In 1971, she obtained a licentiate in social sciences from the Federal University of Paraná and a baccalaureate in journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná. [3]

Stoklos made her debut as a playwright with Círculo na Lua, Lama na Rua (1968). [1] After appearing as a replacement in Arena Conta Tiradentes and Arena Conta Zumbi, she continued stage acting after moving to Rio de Janeiro in 1973, [1] before she fled to the United Kingdom due to the military dictatorship in Brazil. [4] Her experiences with studying acrobatics, clown performance and mime in London [a] inspired her to produce and perform her next work Three Women in High Heels (1979) throughout Europe. [1] In 1980, she became president of Denise Stoklos Artistic Productions. [3] She then created Denise Stoklos: One Woman Show (1980) and Elis Regina (1982), before appearing in Um Orgasmo Adulto Escapa do Zoológico (1983), winning her the APETESP  [ pt ] Award for Best Actress. [1] She portrayed Oriana in the Rede Bandeirantes telenovela Ninho da Serpente . [5]

In February 1987, she premiered her one-woman show Mary Stuart, inspired by the epoynmous Queen of Scots, at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in Manhattan. [6] This brought her to international attention, [1] and she later started holding her works' world premieres in the city. [7] In 1993, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in playwriting. [8] [3] Since the 1990s, her work has shifted towards socio-political subject matter, as well as tributes to previous artists; her inspirations for such works include Jorge Luis Borges, Louise Bourgeois, Gertrude Stein, and Henry David Thoreau. [1] She was awarded the State Order of the Pine Tree  [ pt ] in 2012. [9]

Analysis

Diana Taylor and Roselyn Costantino called Stoklos "Brazil's most important solo performer", though they also noted that she works "at the periphery of the theatrical establishment" due to her limited acknowledgement in Brazilian theatrical histories. [10] Stoklos self-describes her work as "essential theatre", in turn defining it as "that which has the minimum possible gestures, movements, words, wardrobe, scenery and accessories and effects. And which contains the maximum power of drama in itself". [11] Stoklos also attributed her political critique to her intersectional experiences as a Global South woman. [4]

Personal life

She has two children, both of whom have appeared together with her in her work. [12] [7] She has three siblings, including the mayor of her birthplace Sérgio Stoklos. [2]

Credits

Playwriting

Acting

Notes

  1. ↑ Her teachers were Eugenio Barba, Franki Anderson, and Desmond Jones respectively. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Denise Stoklos". Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  2. 1 2 Jedyn, Larissa (28 August 2010). "Os Stoklos - uma família em performance". Gazeta do Povo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Reports of the President and of the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1994. p. 134. Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stoklos, Denise (2000). "Writings on essential theatre" . Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 11 (2): 107–110. doi:10.1080/07407700008571335. ISSN   0740-770X.
  5. ↑ Costa, Fábio (5 April 2022). "TBT da TV: 40 anos do clássico Ninho da Serpente". Observatório da TV (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  6. 1 2 Perez, Miguel (16 February 1987). "One Woman, One Show". New York Daily News. p. C21 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 "Denise Stoklos". hemisphericinstitute.org. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "Denise Stoklos". Guggenheim Fellowships. Archived from the original on 4 October 2025. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  9. ↑ Bessa, Reinaldo (21 March 2013). "Operação na Ópera". Gazeta do Povo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 13 February 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  10. ↑ Taylor, Diana; Costantino, Roselyn (2000). "Holy terrors: Latin American women perform". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 11 (2): 7–24. doi:10.1080/07407700008571329. ISSN   0740-770X.
  11. ↑ Damasceno, Leslie (2000). "The Gestural art of reclaiming utopia: Denise Stoklos at play with the hysterical-historical". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 11 (2): 111–143. doi:10.1080/07407700008571336. ISSN   0740-770X.
  12. ↑ Holden, Stephen (18 January 1990). "Review/Theater; The Details of Daily Life, Surrealistically". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  13. ↑ "Denise Stoklos Unearths Hamlet in Irati". The New York Times. 30 January 1988. p. 1.14. ProQuest   426708336.
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