Gustavo Nery Dutra Guedes traveled a great distance for the opportunity to study at Illinois State University. He left his home and family in his hometown of Fortaleza, Brazil, to follow his academic dreams and become a Redbird. He is graduating with a Master of Arts in theatre studies.
After a bachelor’s degree in journalism and exploring other communincations-related classes during his undergraduate years like publishing, advertising, and filmmaking, he set his sights on the two subjects most true to his heart—film and theatre.
“My passion for film and theatre has been with me since I was a child, and I started my first endeavors to be a film critic around 10 years ago and eventually became one,” Nery said, noting that as a journalist he used his first and last names—Gustavo Nery—as his byline. “I love all the catharsis and stories we get to experience through art, and stories were the reason I had opted for journalism in the first place.”
Nery, 28, worked on a cultural journalism beat covering film premieres, art exhibitions, and theater shows. He also edited books for a couple of years. When the time came for graduate school he knew he wanted to explore his interests in theatre and film studies. He became aware of Illinois State through a friend at home.
“In 2019, a close friend learned about ISU through a partnership program that the University has with an institution in my home city,” he said. “At that time, I was looking for master’s programs worldwide because I wanted to study abroad to practice my English. The same friend was admitted to ISU in 2021 and encouraged me to apply. The theatre studies program here definitely stood out to me.”
“Something that made a huge difference was that my current advisor, Dr. Kee-Yoon Nahm, and Dr. Ann Haugo, director of the School of Theatre and Dance, were always in touch with me during the application process. ISU was the only university to do that.”
Gustavo Nery Dutra Guedes
Nery said the program incorporated artistic areas that he wanted to learn more about and experiment with if he was accepted as a student. But it was the human touch that sold him on coming to Illinois State.
“Something that made a huge difference was that my current advisor, Dr. Kee-Yoon Nahm, and Dr. Ann Haugo, director of the School of Theatre and Dance, were always in touch with me during the application process,” Nery said. “ISU was the only university to do that, and I grew fond of the idea of starting my studies here. The support that was given to me from the very beginning made all the difference.”
He received a graduate assistantship from the School of Theatre and Dance, which was crucial since it covered tuition and some living expenses. He was also the recipient of the Ada Belle Clark Welsh Scholarship in spring 2023, which he called a great honor. In the fall of 2023, he was awarded a Birdfeeder Grant to support his work as a dramaturg for Illinois State’s production of the musical The Addams Family. He worked with the show’s co-dramaturg, Markos Carmona, to create an interactive lobby display with information about the musical and some props.
“That was a fun project to develop,” Nery said. “It contributed to the atmosphere of the musical and got a lot of love from the audience.”
He was a teaching assistant (TA) and an instructor for courses related to the film and digital media major. He was a TA for Introduction to Film Art, History of Cinema, History of American Cinema, Experiencing Theatre, and Film Theory and Criticism. He was the instructor for Non-Western Cinema, where he discussed queer cinema from many countries around the world. Of his many opportunities, one of his favorites came in the summer of 2023.
“I had the great experience of working as the house manager at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival,” Nery said. “It allowed me to improve my people-managing skills while enjoying great plays and the beautiful grounds of Ewing Manor.”
On campus he developed workshops on film criticism designed to improve the writing skills of participants and inspire conversations on queer cinema and coming-of-age films. He developed the Normal Theater Film Club, a partnership between the Normal Theater and Illinois State film students that brought conversations about historical, social and technical aspects of films to Uptown Normal. In late 2023, he started working part-time at the Normal Theater, which he said is his favorite place in town. He was invited to curate a Brazilian cinema series there, which ran in April 2024.
“It was the culmination of my relationship with ISU and the Town of Normal,” he said.
Next up, he’s heading home for an overdue visit to his family in Brazil this summer. In the fall he will return to Central Illinos to begin a communications and media Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In his free time, Nery obviously loves movies and television, so he tries to see a film in the theatre at least twice a week. He’s also a vinyl collector and enjoys listening to music to decompress. He likes vintage toys, Lego sets, baking, meditating, going for walks on Constitution Trail, and writing poetry and fiction.
“I aspire to become a professor in the future, and this is the yellow brick road that will lead to that,” he said.
Nery said it’s been a privilege to be in the School of Theater and Dance and witness the talents of so many great artists and watch so many good shows.
“It has all been very inspiring to me,” he said. “There are some moments when you see someone perform or create something that you can’t help but think: ‘This person will be famous one day.’ You can’t say that about most other career areas. I will miss that.
“Oh, and I will also miss the Normal Theater. Damn, I love that place.”
This story is one of a series of profiles on Redbirds who are graduating this May. For more information about how Illinois State is celebrating commencement, visit the Graduation Services website.
