Sylvia Plath & Frida Kahlo Meet In Water People's MUSAS

CLATA co-presents with American Writers Museum and the Poetry Foundation, Musas (Muses) produced by Chicago's Water People Theater as part of DESTINOS - the 2nd Chicago International Latino Theater Festival.

Musas imagines an extraordinary encounter between two icons of contemporary art, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and American poet Sylvia Plath.

Written by Néstor Caballero, directed by Iraida Tapias, Musas proposes a fictional crossroad between two artists, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), in which they share the most intimate and passionate moments of their lives. While this interchange never actually occurred, the audience is present to confront the intensity of these colorful artists. Important moments in both of their careers and lives are shared as well as their unique relationship with art, love and death. This rich dialogue between Frida, played by Rebeca Alemán, and Sylvia, played by Kristen Magee, allows the audience to learn biographical details about both of these women's lives and share their respective life journeys interwoven with incredible talent, passion and pain.

Performances are September 20-23 in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, an 80-seat cabaret-style space connected to Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago. Show times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. For tickets and information, visit steppenwolf.org or call (312) 335-1650.

Water People Theater's mission is to produce high quality bilingual theater; attract new talent and audiences; promote important humanistic themes and encourage audiences to embrace a set of values consistent with social harmony and a better world. For information, visit waterpeopletheater.org.

"The American Writers Museum is extremely excited to be able to partner with CLATA and to help bring Nestor Caballero's play Musas to Chicago," said Carey Cranston, President of the American Writers Museum (AWM). "CLATA provides an amazing opportunity to feature the work of great playwrights from around the country and the world here in Chicago. As an institution focused on celebrating great writing and promoting the great writers of today, the AWM's mission is perfectly aligned with CLATA, and we are excited to partner with them and to support the work of a great playwright, and especially one that so strongly features the words of a great American poet like Sylvia Plath."

The American Writers Museum opened in May of 2017 and is located at 180 N. Michigan Ave., 2nd Floor, in downtown Chicago. For more, visit americanwritersmuseum.org.

"We at the Poetry Foundation are proud to support the 2018 DESTINOS festival presentation of Musas which imagines a conversation between two of the most important artists of the 20th Century," said Ydalmi Noriega, Community and Foundation Relations Director, The Poetry Foundation. "Frida Kahlo and Sylva Plath left a legacy of work that guides artistic creation to this day. This play allows us to witness an imagined and thrilling conversation between these revolutionary creators."

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. For more information, visit poetryfoundation.org.

Musas is presented at Steppenwolf 1700 Theatre as part of the LookOut Series. LookOut is Steppenwolf's performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form. Emerging artists and performance legends, quintessential Chicago companies and young aspiring ensembles, familiar Steppenwolf faces and new friends. For information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

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