There are teachers who teach a subject. And there are others who, without intending to, change the way someone faces the world.
The Fridos recover one of those encounters capable of modifying everything. The text, written and directed by Clemente Vega, takes as its starting point the period in which Frida Kahlo taught classes at La Esmeralda and trained a group of young artists who would end up being known by that name.
“Many times we do not consider the teachers of life. It is very nice to commemorate those teachers who change our existence,” he commented in an interview with The Day Elisabetha Gruener, cast member.
The Nostalgia Teatro production returns today to the Salvador Novo theater, of the National Center for the Arts (Cenart), with a story where five students discover that art not only serves to paint pictures: it can also function as a refuge, revelation and mirror.
On stage, five students survive among easels, brushes and still incomplete dreams. The school where they study, hidden in an alley near a pantheon, seems suspended between dust, precariousness and the fierce need to find their own voice. Then the unexpected change of teachers occurs. Frida arrives. And something starts to move.
Little by little, the characters understand that a canvas also reflects family frustrations, anger, fear, broken desires and hunger for the future. Their teacher doesn’t just teach them how to paint. It teaches them to observe themselves.
Without morbid fascination
One of the findings of the montage is to move away from the most exploited story surrounding the artist. Here there is no morbid fascination with the accident that fractured his body or with the sentimental whirlwind with Diego Rivera. There is another woman. One that makes space for others to find their voice.
“The great thing about this proposal is that it precisely avoids the morbidity surrounding her illness and her relationship with Diego,” commented Gruener.
“Many people come out saying: ‘how nice to invent this’, but it is not invented. Frida really was a very important teacher and recovering that part of her life has something deeply human.”
▲ The play, written and directed by Clemente Vega, returns to the Salvador Novo del Cenart theater. The piece is inspired by the period in which Frida Kahlo taught classes.Photo courtesy of Daniel Reyes
The actress also faced the challenge of immersing herself in 1940’s Mexico, a time in which the role of women remained surrounded by very rigid social codes. The rhythm of speaking, the forms of coexistence and the limitations of that time filtered into the construction of the characters played by Andrés Jurado, Emilio Barbosa, Fabiola Villalpando, Jorge Viñas, Mario González-Solís, Mónica Bejarano and Gruener herself.
“It was a completely different world,” he recalled. “Very different from the role of women today. Investigating all that was part of the challenge.”
That search for truth also ended up modifying the internal dynamics of the company. The creative process became a deeply emotional experience, where the group ended up building bonds that went beyond the stage.
Part of Nostalgia Teatro’s identity lies in that way of building community. “Clemente Vega allows the members to take ownership of the material and find a personal relationship with the story, within a dynamic where the project ends up becoming collective,” explained Elisabetha Gruener.
“Theater definitely changes with each rehearsal and each performance. Other layers, new nuances and different ways of delving deeper into this world always appear.”
While the characters search for answers among brushes, oil paint and paint-stained fabrics, the story leaves a silent question suspended: who was that person who once taught us to look differently?
The Fridos will offer performances starting today and until May 23 at the Salvador Novo del Cenart theater (Río Churubusco 79, Country Club Churubusco neighborhood).
The performances will be on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. The ticket costs 180 pesos.