Edda de los Ríos

Childhood and youth

She did her high-school in Colegio Teresiano of her home town and the artistic of Poetry in the Ateneo Paraguayo, between 1955 and 1960; Dramma in courses with Milagros de la Vega and Hedy Crilla, in Buenos Aires and with Flor M. Botino and Alberto Candea,in Montevideo, between 1960 and 1964; her Actress Career in Madrid, at the Real Escuela de Arte Dramatico,since 1964 until 1967; in the Spanish capital she also studied other courses and attended seminars such as “Teatro en verso” and “Siglo de Oro Español” with Manuel Dicenta, “Teatro de Vanguardia” with “Los Goliardos” under the direction of Angel Facio, Daniel Bohr and Pedro Pérez Oliva, “Lenguaje de la Imagen” in the Escuela de Cinematografía y Televisión de Madrid; of Speech and Animation in the Escuela Municipal de Arte Escénico y Locución de Asunción; of Animations and Television Production in the Antelco, of Asunción; of Vanguard’s Theatre in the Misión Cultural Brasileña of Asunción under the direction of the teacher Hermilo Borba Filho; of Specialization on Integrated Television Specialization, through a short time at RTVE (Radiotelevisión Española), in Prado del Rey, Spain; of Actualization, Production Direction and Theatre Creation in Paraguay and countries of America and Europe, participating in courses and seminars.

First steps

Between 1960 and 1998, in one of the most brilliant scenic careers registered in the theatre activity in Paraguay, she was a performer in more than sixty plays among which we can mention “El bello indiferente” of Jean Cocteau, “Así es la vida” of Malfatti and De las Llanderas, “Amor de don Perlimplín y Belisa en su jardín” of García Lorca, [El baúl de los disfraces” of Jaime Salom, “El diario de Ana Frank” of Goodrich y Hackett, “Flor de Cactus” of Barrilet y Gredy, “La cantante calva” of Eugène Ionesco, “Los Físicos” of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, “El cepillo de dientes” of Jorge Díaz, “Recordando con ira” of John Osborne”, “A mitad de camino” of Peter Ustinov, under the direction of Hector de los Rios; “Sara Bernhardt” of J. Murre, “Las brujas de Salem” of Arthur Miller, “Un tranvía llamado deseo” of Tennessee Williams, “Las galas del difunto y la rosa de papel” of Ramón del Valle-Inclán, under the direction of important men of the American and European theatre. The opening in Navarra, España, of the play “Misterio de Guillen y Felicia,” of Iribarren and Beguiristain, deserves a special mention. It was a play with 500 actors in scene and made under the direction of Claudio de la Torre, in natural scenarios with the sponsorship of the Ministerio de Informacion y Turismo de España, between 1965 and 1966.

Among the plays of Paraguayan authors performed by Edda de los Rios, we can mention “No serán violetas” of Héctor de los Ríos (1967), “Veladas de Areguá” of Raquel Chaves (1974), “El Guajhú”, an adaptation of the store with the same name of Gabriel Casaccia, made by Annick Sanjurjo and Nelly Giménez (1975), “Qué hacemos esta noche” of Edda de los Ríos (1975), “Esta noche nos quedamos en casa” of Edda de los Ríos (1977), “Queridos monstruos” of Pepa Kostianovsky (1981), “Viajando en poesía” (1982), “Perfiles morenos” of Néstor Romero Valdovinos, “Nuestros años grises” of Alcibiades Gonzalez Delvalle (1984), “Elisa” of Acibiades Gonzalez Delvalle (1985), “Salven a Matilde” of Moncho Azuaga (1989), “Las tres monedas” of Néstor Romero Valdovinos (1992), “Pintadas por sí mismas” of Marilyn Godoy, Manuela Peña y Olga Caballero (1995), “Y ahora... ¿qué?” of Edda de los Ríos (1998).

Her history and works

She has participated in Internacional Festivals of Theatre and with appearances in Congreso of this artistic specialty, between 1982 and 1997, in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Spain and United States of America, France, Portugal, Germany, Uruguay, The Soviet Union and Venezuela.

Her activity as a teacher is wide and mainly deals with direction and teaching, between 1970 and 1989, in the Taller de Educacion Artistica,that holds her name; in the Escuelas Municipal de Educacion Artistica y Normal de Profesores n 1; in the Colegio Nacional de la Capital; in la Misión Cultural Brasileña; in the Universidad Católica de Asunción; in the Taller de Educación Artística for the program “España Cultural”, in Madrid as well as in other educational centers in other Spanish cities (1987).

Among her many activities in different communication media, we can mention her work in the radios Chaco Boreal, Ñandutí, Cáritas and Paraguay of Asunción, Sarandí ( as an actress in the series of 25 chapters of “Madame Lynch”) and CX 4 Radio Rural, of Montevideo, Uruguay.

On TV she has made in the Channel 9 TV Cerro Cora of Asunción and Chanel 13 Paraguayan TV, cultural and educational programs between 1970 y 1991. She has also worked in the international TV of Spain and Italy. In the written press she also collaborated, between 1978 and 1998, with the newspapers Última Hora, ABC Color, Hoy and Sendero of Asuncion; Espacio, of Argentina; Diógenes y Latin American Theatre Review From the United States ; Escenario de dos mundo], from Spain, and La Escena Latinoamericana, an Argentinian-Canadian publication.

Plays

She has published, in 1994, “Dos caras del teatro paraguayo” and in 1998 “Y ahora... ¿qué?”.

Among her main positions and cultural functions we can mention the direction of the place “La Farándula”, in Asunción ; her condition as a founder partner in Centro Paraguayo de Teatro (CEPATE) ; as a member of the Asociación Paraguaya de Teatro para la infancia y la Juventud; as a delegate director of the Centro Latinoamericano de Creación e Investigación Teatral, located in Caracas, Venezuela; as a member of the Comité Ejecutivo del Bloque Latinoamericano de Teatro para niños y adolescentes; editor for Paraguay of the World Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Theatre; as a coordinator for Paraguay of the Project of the Latinamerican Theatre History; as a member of the Executive Committee of the Instituto Internacional de Teoría y Crítica de Teatro Latinoamericano; as a memberf of the organization committee of the Segundo Encuentro Internacional sobre Teatro Latinoamericano; as a member of the Editorial Team of the Magazine La Escena Latinoamericana; as a member of the Academia Committee Congreso Internacional de Teatro Iberoamericano y Argentino; as a member of the Advisor Board of the Premio Anual a la Investigación Teatral Armando Discépolo.

To all her intense and great artistic activity, we can add her work as a political director and as such she has been between 1991 and 1996, Advisor at the Town Hall in Asunción and President of the Comisión of Education and Culture of the Town Hall board. She also worked as a member of the Political Women Network and the Municipal Women Network. She held positions in the board of her party, the Liberal Radical Autentico.

Mentions

She has obtained mentions and awards among which we can name

“Revelación artística del año” (1962), “Premio de la crítica a la mejor puesta en escena por la obra “La cantante calva” de Eugène Ionesco” (1970), “Personalidad teatral entre las figuras destacadas del año” (1977), “Los doce del año” (1978 y 1980), “Joven sobresaliente” de la Cámara Junior de Asunción (1979), “Personalidades del año por la actividad teatral” (1982), “Prisma de Oro por la trayectoria teatral” (1992) y “Figura teatral” (1998).

Her last great gift to the theatrical art was given with the memorable recreation of anonymous lives of Paraguayan women, through an unipersonal play “Kuñá rekové” (“Vida de mujer”) and with it she made a great quantity of presentations both in her country as well as abroad, representing Paraguay with dignity.

Her last years

During her last three years she directed plays of Compañía de Ópera de la Universidad del Norte, an educational institution which gives a fundamental support to the development of the musical art in Paraguay.

She was married to Eduardo Laterza Rivarola and gave birth to several children. She died after a long sickness in 2007. The Junta Municipal de la Ciudad de Asunción gave her the distinction after her death of “Hija Dilecta de la Ciudad”, as a recognition to her work.