THEATRE + COMEDY

Talento Bilingüe de Houston (TBH) brings once more to the stage, Angeles Romero with The Life and Times of Frida — a 60-minute poetic solo performance.

This riveting 60-minute movement theatre piece is based on the life of Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954). Through compelling physicality and poetic projections it narrates Frida’s childhood bout with polio; the near-fatal bus accident at 18, her tempestuous marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, her love affairs, her many surgeries—nearly 35 altogether—and finally her death.

Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer, elegantly compares Kahlo’s fractured self to the schisms and disjunctions, the wars and succession of empires, the turbulence that existed within each epoch of Mexico. While exploring the identity of a highly complex woman and her nation, this play proffers many questions, and important one being “How does one find freedom and powerful self-expression given the confines and limitations of an aging, pain ridden or injured body?

The Life and Times of Frida directed by Sayra Contreras was previously performed at TBH during the Sor Juana Festival in 2007.

The play will run for 2 days, Apri 9th and April 10th. Each performance begins at 8PM and has a running time of 60 minutes. The show is in English, however some Spanish is used. It is appropriate for those 17 years of age and older.

Ángeles Romero was born on the Mexican-American border, and she has been raised in two cultures. Her artistic work meditates on the new lexicon of contemporary Latino culture and its political relations to Anglo and international cultures. After studying Political Science at UT-Austin, she performed with Deborah Hay, made costumes, wrote plays, acted on stage and film, and co-directed performances with AlienNation Co. (between the places, North by South, migbot, Trails, fishgarden and Mirak). In 2003, she completed an MFA in Theatre at OSU, where she performed with da da kamera at the Wexner Center for the Arts and completed, Sueño, a multimedia play based on the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Other dance (embers) and solo performances (The Brow and Cuerpos Ambulantes) were shown in the Midwest and toured internationally. After a residency as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Studies at OSU, she returned to Houston in 2004 and has worked as an independent performance director, writer, and language interpreter.

As artist-in-residence at Talento Bilingüe de Houston, she directs the education program and has devised and taught an annual series of workshops on playwriting, multimedia theatre production, and improvisational techniques. Under a Houston Arts Alliance fellowship, she completed her latest play, Puntos de Fuga. She completed the ‘08 Summer Tadashi Suzuki Actor Training in Toga, Japan with SITI Company’s Ellen Lauren. Currently, she teaches acting and directs the educational programs at TBH. Also she is cowriting a book with Johannes Birringer titled, "Multimedia Theatre: Directing and Performing in Intelligent Environments" being published in 2011 by IGI Global, an international publishing company.

Talento Bilingüe de Houston is located at 333 S. Jensen Dr. Houston, TX 77003. For more information on this event or other events call 713.222.1213 or visit www.tbhcenter.org.