They address Frida Kahlo’s teacher’s facet on the teacher

The story of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) has narrated in innumerable ways. His image appears in all kinds of products, his life has inspired films and documentaries, and his work has been subject to countless analysis.

However, in The cold, Staging written and directed by Clemente Vega, the Mexican artist is not portrayed through her pain or her relationship with Diego Rivera, but from a less explored facet: that of teacher.

The Lucena Forum becomes the classroom of the Esmeralda Hogar School, where a group of students receives a painter out of the ordinary. Five young people, with different backgrounds and aspirations, find in art a path to face their personal and emotional problems.

Your teacher, Frida Kahlo, guides them with a single mandate: How much. Through the canvas, students discover that painting is not only a technique or a discipline, but a mirror that reflects their fears, yearnings and wounds.

From the first moment I read the text, I understood that I was not a conventional artist. It is not the Frida of exacerbated suffering or the one in the shadow of Rivera. Here is a strong, passionate and committed woman to her teacher vocationexplained in an interview Mónica Bejarano, who plays the painter in the work.

She was a teacher who encouraged her students to express themselves without fear, to find her voice. That is what we transmit on stage.

The plot revolves around a group of young people in search of their artistic identity. Some face family obstacles, others deal with economic difficulties or with the weight of belonging to the LGBT community in the 40s. Kahlo’s arrival in their lives is a revolution. Its pedagogy is not based on traditional methods, but on observation, empathy and impulse of free expression.

The assembly, in addition to Bejarano, brings together Bobby Mendoza, Jorge Viñas and, in alternate functions, Fabiola Villalpando, Elisabetha Gruener, Andrés Jurado, Gonzalo de Esesarte and Mario González Solís.

All of them build characters with nuances that range from naivety to frustration, through passion and rebellion. Their interactions on stage generate a climate that travels between tension and hope.

To provide realism to assembly, the cast and the director took painting classes in Rome Art Studio. The intention was to capture the essence of an art class in the 40s and transfer it with likelihood to the stage.

The scenery is loaded with authenticity: easels, brushes, canvases and wood furniture create the atmosphere of a painting workshop of the time. Beyond the physical objects, the visual composition of the work pays tribute to the pictorial universe of Frida Kahlo. Some scenes evoke their paintings, with elements that seem to float and an aesthetic that flirts with the surrealist.

We wanted the public to feel inside the classroom, to live the experience of being a Kahlo student. Frida had a very peculiar way to teach, did not impose rigid rules, but guided students to find their languageClemente Vega added, also creator of music.

Teachers influence students’ life, but are also transformed by them. In this work we see a Frida that not only changes the lives of their students, but also impacted by themthe director concluded.

The latest functions of The cold, Nostalgia theater production, will be presented on Fridays at 8:15 p.m. and on Saturdays at 7 pm, until March 1, at the Lucena Forum (Lucena 64, Colonia Juárez, Mayor’s Office Cuauhtémoc). Tickets, with a cost of 390 pesos, can be purchased at the box office or in Ticketmaster.