Zé Celso

Zé Celso
Celso in 2010
Born
José Celso Martinez Corrêa

(1937-03-30)30 March 1937
Died6 July 2023(2023-07-06) (aged 86)
São Paulo, Brazil
Alma materLaw School, University of São Paulo (dropped out)
Occupation(s)Stage actor, director and playwright
Years active1958–2023
Notable workThe Bacchae, Os Sertões, O Rei da Vela, Roda Viva
MovementAnthropophagism
Spouse
Marcelo Drummond
(m. 2023)
Websiteteatroficina.com

José Celso Martinez Corrêa (30 March 1937 – 6 July 2023), known as Zé Celso, was a Brazilian stage actor, director and playwright. He was one of the founders of Teatro Oficina, an innovative and politically active theater company associated with the 1960s Tropicalismo movement.

Zé Celso became notable in the scene with his adaptation of Oswald de Andrade's play O Rei da Vela (The Candle King), in 1967. He also co-wrote with Chico Buarque the 1968 play Roda Viva, which was targeted as pornographic and was censored during the military dictatorship. One of his final plays was Os Sertões, a trilogy adapting the book by Euclides da Cunha.