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, Mira 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.

Quoted from the programme of Meze, Mira and Make-Up in 1996: 'Graduated from WITS Drama School in 1983. In 1984 she co-wrote her first one-woman show, Stukkie Jols, with Peni Flascas. She has since worked as an actress, writer, comedienne and teacher. Irene was nominated for a Vita Award for best actress in Via Castiglione and a DALRO award for the Caucasian Chalk Circle. In 1992 she won the AA Vita Award for comedy for her one-woman show Is Every Sperm Sacred?. The show was also selected for a reading at The Third International Women's Conference in Australia. The show was performed in Melbourne and was recorded by The Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Meze, Mira and Make-Up is Irene's third one-woman show.'