*****  Many people are familiar with the extraordinary work of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, but few know her story. Vanessa Severo has written a play that digs deep into the inner sole of this creative artists and under the smooth direction of Joanie Schultz, takes on the role herself in a terrific one-woman show entitled “Frida…A Self Portrait”. This is an intense 75 minute production ( no intermission) that brings the artist’s story to life, with the amazing Severo leading us through the years  and limitations of this artist.

Most people admire her work without knowing her back story. Frida was a polio baby ( I think at the age of 6 they discovered this) and learned to live with her handicap and body limitations. At age 18, she was in a bus accident leaving her in a painful situations that lasted for the rest of her life. Severo, who herself has a slight handicap, brings her own pain to the story as we gaze into the love life, her drug addictions, and of most importance the beauty of her art and creativity.

The story begins with a blank stage and Ms Severo addressing the audience as the author. This is where someone announces to please turn off your cell phones and that there will be no photos etc. Within seconds of telling us why she wrote the play, she becomes the character and the biography begins. There is no set, but only clotheslines from stage right to stage left. On the different lines articles of clothing, men’s and women’s (Katherine Davis does the costumes, which these will become). Incidentally, the set design is by Jaqueline Penrod who has come up with a clever way to present the costumes for Severo to use as she take son other characters along the way. Of course, she does her changes right before our eyes, smoothly with no hesitations at ll.

The lighting (Rachael Cady) and sound (Thomas Dixon) are right on, although it might have been a little better for Severo to have been body microphoned just to aid those in the higher seats. The Nichols stage at Writers is the larger of the two, so in order to create the intimacy that this show deserves, it might have been to the best advantage to bring the stage closer to the audience. While Severo is strong and very capable, there were a few moments when the stage was to large for the amazing action she brings to the characters tormented life. Since there is no choreographer listed, I would have to believe that the amazing movements were created by  her star. As I learned later Severo is quite flexible, and did it all herself

There have been a number of one person performances of late, each showing a really person through another’s eyes. The intensity of this performance is one that will hold your interest for the entire performance. If you have ever seen the work of Kahlo, you know the intensity of the art. What happens in the telling of her story, is that you get to see the intensity of the writer/performer bringing that special intensity to life- this is one that you won’t want to miss!

 

“Frida…A Self Portrait” will continue Thru – Feb 23rd with performances as follows: