Vanessa Severo is Frida Kahlo at Writers Theatre (Photos by Zach Rosing taken at Indiana Rep)
4 Stars
You don’t often see costume changes right on stage against a backdrop of apparel hanging on clothes lines. But then, you don’t often see a highly charged, exceptional, one-person performance such as the one that opened in Writers Theatre on Jan. 31, 2025.
It is Frida-A Self Portrait directed by Joanie Schultz and written and performed by Latino actress Venessa Severo.
You may start off thinking you know who Kahlo is. But by the end of the show you will also think you understand how this famed Mexican artist saw herself.
Upon entering the lobby look at the board near the entrance to the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre, Writers’ main show space, to read the happenings and accomplishments chart during Kahlo’s short life.
Born July 6, 1907 to Guillermo, a German father, and Matilde, a Mexican-Purepecha-Spanish mother, she died July 13, 1954.
During that time she married artist Diego Rivera in 1929, painted, tried to carry their offspring (see tiny clothes on the line), painted, divorced, remarried Diego and painted.
The show’s premise is that Kahlo is being interviewed by a writer from an architecture magazine. (The house later became a museum)
You hear her explain her life but Severo also speaks to the audience. She shows her left hand with its missing fingers (a congenital disorder), as a way to express how she relates to Kahlo. (Kahlo had polio that affected her legs and also survived a bus accident that left her severely injured.)
However, by the show’s end you really do feel you have met Kahlo and better understand her life and how she saw herself.
BTW, in 1990 Kahlo’s painting Diego and I became the first work by a Latin American artist to sell for more than $1 million ( US dollars). In 2001, Kahlo becomes the first Hispanic woman on a U.S. postage stamp.
DETAILS: Frida-A Self Portrait, is at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Ct. Glencoe, IL now through Feb. 23, 2025. Running time: about 75 plus minutes. For tickets and more information Visit Writers Theatre or call 847-242-6000.
Jodie Jacobs
For more shows visit Theatre in Chicago