Irene Stephanou

(19*-) Actress and stand-up comedienne, writer, performer and teacher. ** ** Studied at the School of Dramatic Art, University of the Witwatersrand and graduated with a BA (Dramatic Arts) Honours . She worked for the woman's group Progressive Arts Project (PAP) in the late 1980s She has co-written and performed three one-woman shows, which have toured South Africa and abroad. All her new work has been staged at the Market Theatre. They include Is Every Sperm Sacred?, Meze, Mera and Make Up, Acropolis Cafe.

She developed a course called 'Theatre and Life' under the supervision of Barney Simon, and runs it at the Market Theatre Laboratory. She also organises development workshops in Johannesburg.

Co-edited a book on Barney Simon entitled The World in an Orange: Creating Theatre with Barney Simon with [[Leila Henriques].

She has been living with Multiple Scelerosis (MS) since she was 16 years old.