{"id":389,"date":"2025-05-12T08:08:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T08:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/?page_id=389"},"modified":"2025-05-22T12:42:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:42:22","slug":"frida-kahlo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/frida-kahlo\/","title":{"rendered":"Frida Kahlo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p>Lorem Ipsum has been the industry&#8217;s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.<\/p>\n<p>Lorem Ipsum has been the industry&#8217;s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.<\/p>\n\n\n<span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><p class=\"p1\" style=\"font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; max-width: none; color: rgb(20, 20, 19);\"><span style=\"font-family: Raleway, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><strong>THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT<\/strong><br><\/span><font color=\"#141413\" face=\"Helvetica\" size=\"2\"><strong style=\"color: rgb(82, 101, 168); text-transform: uppercase; font-size: large;\">FRIDA KAHLO<\/strong><\/font><\/p><\/span>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><p>Frida Kahlo<\/p><p>1907-1954<\/p><\/span><p><\/p>\n<span style=\"color:#000000;\"><p>Mexican painter and artist&nbsp;<\/p><p>Written and Performed by: EPV<\/p><\/span><p><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Setting: Frida Kahlo\u2019s home\/studio in Mexico City, 1953<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Frida Kahlo is being interviewed about muralist Lucienne Bloch, shortly before Kahlo\u2019s death in 1954.<\/p>\n{&#8220;title&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;content&#8221;:&#8221;<iframe width=\\\"100%\\\" height=\\\"300\\\" scrolling=\\\"no\\\" frameborder=\\\"no\\\" allow=\\\"autoplay\\\" src=\\\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/2077198664%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-15fRKhA1aKp&#038;color=%2300aabb&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true&#038;visual=true\\\"><\/iframe><div style=\\\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\\\"><a href=\\\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-17135768\\\" title=\\\"Performing History\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" style=\\\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\\\">Performing History<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\\\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-17135768\/frida-kahlo-on-lucienne-bloch\/s-15fRKhA1aKp\\\" title=\\\"Frida Kahlo Monologue\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" style=\\\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\\\">Frida Kahlo Monologue<\/a><\/div>&#8220;}\n\n\n\n\n<span style=\"color:#888888;\"><p>You ask if I know Lucienne Bloch? Of course I do! She is a funny one, Lucienne. The first time Diego brought her into the studio in Detroit, I was not happy. I remember thinking, \u201coh great, that gordo brought another one of his women.\u201d But Lucienne proved me wrong. I did not like the United States. I was not in a good place when we first arrived, and I did not do any better during our first months. I lost another baby\u2026 another Dieguito. And then my mam\u00e1\u2026&nbsp;<\/p><p><br><\/p><p>And yet, Lucienne was there by my side. Grinding paints for Diego while cooking for me. She cooks like hell. Her food is not fit for a dog. It does not matter. I would eat her food any time, any day. Lucienne gave me back my spark. I was not painting anymore, and she changed that. When I left the hospital, she and I did some lithographs together. Who puts someone fresh out of the hospital to do that? Lucienne did, and we had a marvelous time together. We did all kinds of crazy mistakes and all sorts of experiments. And just like that, I got back into painting. Lucienne made me feel the need to go back to the canvas.<\/p><p><br><\/p><p>But suddenly the projects were over, and we had to go back to M\u00e9xico. That was in 1933. A couple of years later, I saw Lucienne one more time, during a trip to New York for my solo exhibition, in 1938. She was now living in the city and had begun working for a relief program, the WPA. She said a social worker had found her because they were looking for a fresco painter who&#8217;s a woman. And who else was a fresco painter who&#8217;s a woman and who lives in New York City? She had to be on home relief for the job, though \u2013a sordid thing. I remember how upset she got at the mere mention of it. But Lucienne was very young and she wanted to paint so badly, that she accepted. I don\u2019t know if I would have taken that job, but I\u2019m glad Lucienne did. Not for the project, but for herself. She did wonderful murals: one for a prison [the House of Detention for Women], and another one for a school [the George Washington High School]. &#8220;You don&#8217;t just paint decorations. We are not wall painters or wallpaper painters. We have to give a message,&#8221; that\u2019s what Diego used to tell her all the time. And that\u2019s exactly what Lucienne did in those murals: she put important lessons into them. For what I\u2019ve heard, Lucienne\u2019s murals, aside from Diego\u2019s, are the only frescos painted during that time that, to this day, haven\u2019t cracked. The experience also gave her confidence. She learned how to talk to people, how to convince them to accept her ideas. During our last conversation, Lucienne expressed how she wished there were more government-sponsored projects for the arts and that they should not do them on the basis of poverty but instead based on the quality of the artist&#8217;s work and with those who have experience in technique.&nbsp;<\/p><p><br><\/p><p>After that trip, I went back home, and I never saw Lucienne ever again. I cannot travel anymore. I can barely paint. Even if I could, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll want to go back to the United States. I don\u2019t miss America. But I will always miss Lucienne, and I will remember her.\u201d<\/p><div><\/div><\/span><div><br><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/perry-bruskin\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Perry Bruskin\n<\/a>&nbsp;<span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/martin-dies\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Martin Dies\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/hallie-flanagan-1935\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Hallie Flanagan (1935)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/hallie-flanagan-1939\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Hallie Flanagan (1939)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/rosamond-gilder\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Rosamond Gilder\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/susan-glaspell\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Susan Glaspell\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/hazel-huffman\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Hazel Huffman\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/frida-kahlo\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Frida Kahlo\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/mary-merrill\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Mary Merrill\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/virginia-nicholson\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Virginia Nicholson\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/elmer-rice\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Elmer Rice\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/eleanor-roosevelt-1935\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Eleanor Roosevelt (1935)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/eleanor-roosevelt-1939\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Eleanor Roosevelt (1939)\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/franklin-delano-roosevelt\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Franklin Delano Roosevelt\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/olive-stanton\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Olive Stanton\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/helen-tamiris\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Helen Tamiris\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/orson-welles\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Orson Welles\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/artwork\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Artwork\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/collaborators\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Collaborators\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/directors-note\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Directors\u2019 Note\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/front-page-tableau\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Front Page Tableau\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/music\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Music\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/pen-pals\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Pen Pals\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/research-source-material\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Research\/Source Material\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/share-your-thoughts\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Share Your Thoughts\n    <\/a>\n    <span style=\"text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">&nbsp;\u2022&nbsp;<\/span>\n  \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/special-thanks\/\" style=\"background-color: rgb(242, 243, 237); text-align: center;\">\n      Special Thanks\n    <\/a>\n  <\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-389","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":646,"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/389\/revisions\/646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performinghistory.com\/federal-theatre-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}