Gustavo Paso is known as one of the most distinguished directors of the Brazilian theatre industry. His shows, whether through the company or as a guest director, always set themselves among the best of the year in this decade. Paso brought his version of Arthur Miller’s THE PRICE, snatching audiences and specialized critics, then setting itself as one of the main highlights of that season.
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In 2018, he introduced us two new shows that figured among the best of the year: HOLLYWOOD by David Mamet in São Paulo, where he was the only director to compete for the two most important awards in Brazilian theater: SHELL and APCA (São Paulo State Association of Art Critics) Awards as Best Director of São Paulo in 2018; and CASA CARAMUJO (infant-youth) with 23 nominations in three of the most notorious awards of this genre: CBTIJ Award “Centro Brasileiro de Teatro Infanto-juvenil”; “Prêmio Zilka Salaberry,” and “Prêmio Botequim Cultural”, winning Best Show in Animated Forms and Best Actor, achieving unanimity in all three awards.
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Just as he was preparing the celebrations for the Company’s 20th Anniversary, the pandemic hit and events were restricted to an online season of David Mamet’s RACE, in March 2021.
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For 2022, Epigenia Theater Company (Cia. Teatro Epigenia) is setting stage for events in celebration of its 21 years of establishment and direction, and there already is one premiere confirmed: O ALIENISTA (The Alienist), a Gustavo Paso’s adaptation of the short story from one of our most celebrated writers Machado de Assis. We look forward for the theatre ongoings and comeback to set an exact premiere date.
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A highlight from the past few years of full visibility of his shows, in which awards, nominations, and excellent critics increasingly provide consistency to the director’s creations, who is nowadays celebrated by names such as Maria Eugênia de Menezes:
“The works of Epigenia Theater Company fills a gap in the contemporary theatrical scene: Art and Entertainment.”
Maria Eugênia de Menezes - Special entry for Estadão
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His company achieved an unprecedented milestone winning for two consecutive years the Aplauso Brasil Award of BEST PLAY from São Paulo Company (Cia São Paulo), with OLEANNA (2016) and RACE (2017), both from David Mamet. Besides, the nominations for the categories of Best Direction and Best Cast; and nominations for APCA and SHELL Awards for the category of Best Actor (Gustavo Falcão).
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With the creation of KASA KUSNET, Paso takes an important step in terms of training and perfecting Brazilian actors and actresses. His 21 years as a director and 09 as an actor constitute and support this audacious project.
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Some shows by Gustavo Paso mix great theatrical texts with projects of his own authorship, achieving gigantic success in both forms. Director of "IN THE NAME OF THE GAME" by Anthoy Shaffer; THE MAMET TRILOGY (Oleanna, Race and Speed The Plow); THE PRICE by Arthur Miller and THE BIRTHDAY PARTY by Harold Pinter, among others, are in this list of great successes and renowned works of actors who in all of them received nominations for awards. And as a stage director/playwright, he premiered major blockbusters, critics successes and award-winners: "GARAGEM", "ARIANO", "BODOCONGÓ," and "CASA CARAMUJO", all of them as director, author and set designer.
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A very important point in this trajectory is the fact that the pieces produced and created by the Company never are on display for less than a year. The most common timeframe is two years of touring and seasons, sometimes three to four years.
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Each show is a chapter in history, and when we write chapters for a biographical book, we want them to be eternalized.
Our choices will always be special for the moment, for contemporary life, for talking about our world. We are the Epigenia Theater Company: a HUMANIST theater group.
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