Release Date: January 9, 2007
KSU performance celebrates Latin American women
Contact: Cheryl Anderson Brown, Assistant Director of Public Relations, 770-499-3417 or cbrown@kennesaw.edu
KENNESAW, Ga. (Jan. 9, 2007)—The College of the Arts and Kennesaw State University is pleased to announce the return of the Core Ensemble with actress Georgina Corbo to present the chamber music theater production of “Tres Vidas.” This performance will take place at 8 p.m. on Jan. 24 in Howard Logan Stillwell Theater.
“Tres Vidas,” written by Marjorie Agosin, is based on the lives of three legendary Latin American women: Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Salvadoran peasant-activist Rufina Amaya and Argentinean poet Alfonsina Storni. Georgina Corbo, the singing actress, will portray all three in both Spanish and English.
Frida Kahlo had a life marked by physical suffering beginning with childhood polio through a bus accident in which she was pierced by a pole through the pelvis. Her life was complicated by surgical operations, mechanical stretching and corsets. Many of her works were painted lying in bed. Her great love was the painter Diego Rivera, whom she married twice and to whom she dedicated a passionate diary. She also had many lovers, both men and women, including Leon Trotsky.
Rufina Amaya was a 38-year-old housewife in 1981 when the U.S.-trained Salvadoran army swept through her village at El Mozote in a campaign to root out guerillas and their sympathizers. In a shocking turn of events, nearly one thousand peasants were slaughtered, mostly anti-Communist evangelical Christians. Amaya was the only known survivor. She became and continues to be an outspoken and compelling witness to what may have been the largest massacre in modern Latin American history.
Alfonsina Storni was Argentina’s first feminist poet. Born in 1892, she was years ahead of her time in advocating for women's rights. Her multifaceted career as an actress, shopgirl, teacher and market analyst, and her lifelong devotion to her illegitimate son, are the background against which her story is set. She lived at a time when women in Argentina were in total subjugation to husbands, fathers, and social convention, yet she broke away.
All three women will be celebrated in “Tres Vidas,” which has a musical score featuring arrangements of popular and folk music from Latin America, music by tango master Astor Piazzola and new music by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Osvaldo Golijov, Jorge Liderman and Michael DeMurga.
“Tres Vidas” is presented by the Core Ensemble, a trio that includes nationally and internationally known cellist Tahirah Whittington, pianist Hugh Hinton and percussionist Michael Parola. The ensemble will also participate in workshops with students during the day.
“We selected this program because of its emphasis on diversity and cross-cultural understanding,” said Joseph Meeks, dean of the College of the Arts. “The Core Ensemble has an excellent reputation for delivering both outstanding performances and for instructing students through residency activities.”
Tickets for the Jan. 24 performance are $20 and may be purchased online at www.kennesaw.edu/arts or at the box office. For more information, call 770-423-6650.
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Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population exceeding 20,000 from 132 countries. The third largest state university out of 35 institutions in the University System of Georgia, KSU offers more than 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
The KSU College of the Arts is one of only four Georgia institutions to have achieved full national accreditation for all of its arts programs.