Frida…A Self Portrait
written and performed by Vanessa Severo
world premiere at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, 2019
productions at Portland Center Stage, 2021
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 2022
Pittsburgh Public Theatre, 2023
GEVA Theatre Center, 2023
Indiana Repertory Theatre, 2024
Scenic Designer: Jacqueline Penrod
Lighting Desginer: Rachael Cady
Costume Designer: Katherine Davis
Sound Designer: Thomas Dixon
Robert Trussell, KC Studio
“the essence of Severo’s play isn’t easy to encapsulate. But that doesn’t mean the work is abstruse. It means Severo has attempted a level of sophisticated storytelling we seldom see from playwrights in Kansas City or anywhere else.”
Deborah Hirsch, The Pitch
“This Frida is a colorful and imaginative composition of pop-out scenes that flow one to the other. Taken in as a whole, this truly original work is a deeply affecting drama that leaves an ineradicable imprint.”
Krista Garver, Broadwayworld.com
“Directed by Joanie Schultz, Severo makes masterful use of the simplest things. The set consists of three clotheslines hung with costumes, which become multiple settings and a good-sized cast of characters. For a solo show, it often feels like there's an ensemble on stage, which is due to Severo's ability to quickly transform herself and also to imbue small movements with large doses of meaning. In one brief but striking scene, she plays two characters at the same time -- the gimmick is so simple, but it still felt like magic.”
Angela Allen, Oregon Arts Watch
“This Frida, opening the 2021-22 season at Portland Center Stage at the Armory, is holding its own. Like the brave brash bisexual Frida Kahlo known as much these days for her penetrating, sometimes psychologically bizarre self-portraits as for her marriage(s) to Mexican painter Diego Rivera, the piece is unapologetic, strange and beautiful —words that describe both the human Frida, who died in 1954 at 47, and Frida: A Self-Portrait.