The sometimes irreverent, half the time flamboyant, almost audacious, full time communist, full time creative artist and diarist, internally loving, ruthlessly expressive, excessively personal and self-referential, Frida Kahlo has had a conundrum of spiraling and bewildering yet fascinating life.

She said she wasn’t a surrealist, but rather painted her own reality.

That reality began with a childhood fight with polio, followed by the “Troli” collision that altered her life and which sparked her to paint intimate and vibrant self-portraits.  It continued to her on-and-off marriage with lover Diego Rivera, and the numerous love affairs she embarked.  Teatro Milagro’s revisiting of its most popular touring program, Frida, un  retablo, consists of a strong creative yet humble cast who express a seamless story of pain, love, revolution and art.

By stepping inside Milagro’s basement rehearsal studio, we will explore the intricacies of how actors Tricia Castañeda-Gonzales, Ajai Terrazas-Tripathi, Daniel Moreno and Dañel Malán embrace their characters and immerse us in this fantastic voyage, intertwine their artistic ability to their character, and have fun at the same time.

In order to provide a compelling inside look of Frida’s life, playwright and actress Dañel has created a multi-layered story with three Frida’s. Dañel herself plays the Spirit of Frida, a sort of narrator. Tricia plays a real-life Frida, while Ajai embraces a third facet of the famed Mexican visual artist.

Through daring yet precise movements, watch as Tricia unfolds that catastrophic collision between a bus and El Troli that Frida was riding at the time, that led to Frida’s momentous turning point in life.  Then, Tricia reveals for us the rocky and always fluctuating marriage with Diego, played by Danny.  Frida was known to have said, “’I suffered two grave accidents in my life.  One in which a streetcar knocked me down… The other accident is Diego.”

To make things even more intriguing, Director/Choreographer Gabriela Portuguez entangles the audience with the love triangle of Frida, Diego, and Leon Trotsky, performed by Ajai.  Giggle and smirk as Leon slips little coy notes to Frida’s books which Frida responds coquettishly, without ever suggesting ideas to Diego, of course.

Astonishingly, whether it is an aging Frida, an intellectual surrealist, a dashing entrepreneur of the arts from the States, or an eager minded young Mexican artist, Ajai and Danny enthrall the audience with their talented ability to engage and transition to dissimilar characters.  In fact, as a whole, the troupe’s capacity of four powerful artists is impressive, for their ability to embody multiple characters really embellishes the minute detail of this illustrious story even more.

Finally, as Frida’s artistic reputation gained popularity with the mass, because of her unconventional self-portraits, her own health succumbed to deterioration, and Tricia’s capability to channel this profound last movement completes a touching last reality in Frida’s roller coaster life.

If this is just rehearsal, can you imagine what the full performances will be like?