Citadeltheatre.com

MEDIA RELEASE, January 31, 2007
In Co-production with the National Arts Centre (Ottawa)/Go Diva Production (Los Angeles)
by Gloria Montero
Directed by Peter Hinton
Starring Allegra Fulton
February 6 – 25, 2007
Rice Theatre at the Citadel
“Allegra Fulton plays Kahlo with hypnotic, impeccably calibrated intensity.” New York Magazine
“Fulton’s performance is mesmerizing and utterly convincing.” The New Yorker
“Allegra Fulton ferociously inhabits Kahlo’s skin.” The Village Voice
EDMONTON, AB – In honour of the centenary of artist Frida Kahlo’s birth, the Citadel Theatre, in
co-production with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, is pleased to welcome the sensational
production Frida K. as part of the 2006-2007 Rice Theatre Series. Starring the incredible Allegra
Fulton and directed by National Arts Centre, English Theatre, Artistic Director Peter Hinton, this
tour-de-force performance and compelling true story should not be missed by anyone who enjoys
art and theatre.
Frida K. takes place on the eve of Frida Kahlo’s solo exhibition in Coyoacan, Mexico on April 13,
1953, a year before she dies. As Frida dresses in the traditional Tejuano style, adorning her hair
with flowers, and her hands and neck with pre-Columbian jewelry, she recounts her life story: her
tragic marriage to the great muralist Diego Rivera; her affair with Russian revolutionary Leon
Trotsky; her surrealist friends Marcel Duchamps, Andre Breton and Salvador Dali; her
relationship with Pablo Picasso; her bisexuality and addiction to morphine and alcohol due to the
chronic pain she suffered as a result of contracting polio as a child and sustaining horrific injuries
in a bus crash accident when she was 18.
Frida K. was first staged by Metal Corset Company and Miranda de Pencier at the 1994 Toronto
Fringe Festival, co-directed by Peter Hinton and Naomi Campbell. The Spanish version was
performed with great success at Madrid's Autumn Festival in 1995 and subsequently at
Barcelona's Teatro Artenbrut and the Sala Muntaner. It also had a successful run in Mexico City
and New York. Frida K. was written by Gloria Montero as a birthday gift to her daughter,
Allegra Fulton.
Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907. In 1913, at the age of six, she was stricken with
polio, which left her with a limp. In 1922 she entered the Preparatoria (National Preparatory
School), the most prestigious educational institution in Mexico. In 1925, Frida was traveling in a
bus which collided with a tramcar, and suffered serious injuries to her right leg and pelvis. The
accident made it impossible for her to have children. In 1926, during recovery, she painted her
first self-portrait. In August, 1929, Frida married Diego Rivera, a communist and celebrated
muralist. Diego’s reputation was growing in the United States and they both went to New York in
1931 for a retrospective on Diego’s work at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1932, Frida suffered a
miscarriage and painted a self-portrait that began a style based on Mexican folk art and the small
pious photos known as ‘retablos’ found in Mexican churches. In the early 1940s, Frida and Diego
divorced and remarried while her health deteriorated and her reputation as an artist grew. In 1953
she held her first and only art show in Mexico City and in 1954 her right leg was amputated below
the knee due to gangrene. She died later that year.
Frida K. stars Allegra Fulton (Citadel Theatre debut) as Frida Kahlo and is directed by
Peter Hinton (Citadel debut). Set and Costumes are designed by Ken Garnhum (Citadel debut);
Lighting designed by Bonnie Beecher (Servant of Two Masters ); Assistant Directed by Diane
D’Aquila (Citadel debut); Stage Managed by Brian Scott (Travels With My Aunt); Assistant
Stage Managed by Helen Himsl (Citadel debut); Assistant Stage Manager Tracey Byrne (3 Mo’
Divas).
Allegra Fulton’s theatre credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor (DareDenTheatre- Toronto);
The Play’s the Thing (SoulPepper Theatre-Toronto); Les Belles Soeurs ,The Trial of Judith K.
and Comedy of Errors (CanStage- Toronto); Marcel Pursued by the Hounds, CounterService
(Tarragon Theatre-Toronto); Death and the Maiden (Saidye Bronfman-Toronto); Nocturnal
Emissions (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto- Dora Nomination for Outstanding
Performance); Nothing Sacred and The Crackwalker (Persephone Theatre, Toronto -Critics
award for Best Actress); Two Noble Kinsmen (Acting Co.-Toronto); As you Like It and Pericles
(Upstage Theatre-Toronto). She has over 30 credits on screen including Choke, in which she won
the Genie for Best Actress; a double episode of Blue Murder (Gemini nomination for Best
Actress) and The Hangman’s Bride, a two-hander indie short in which she stars with her husband
Shawn Doyle, and which won the Genie for best short. Allegra is a Dora Award winner for her
performance of Frida Kahlo in Frida K.
Director, playwright and dramaturge Peter Hinton has been an integral part of the Canadian
theatre landscape for over 20 years, working most recently as an Associate Artist of the Stratford
Festival of Canada. In November 2005 he became Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre
English Theatre in Ottawa.
Frida K. will appear at the Citadel Theatre from February 6 to 25, 2007. Tickets can be
purchased by phone, 780.425.1820, online at citadeltheatre.com or in person at the Box Office,
9828 101 A Avenue.
Frida K. is produced with the generous support of:
Season Sponsor Epcor;

Alberta Foundation for the Arts; The City of Edmonton; Edmonton Arts Council; Canada
Council for the Arts
The Edmonton Journal; Citytv; EZ Rock
For Media Information please contact:

Joshua Semchuk
Publicity and Promotions
P: 780.428.2117
F: 780.428.7194
E: jsemchuk@citadeltheatre.com
(see below for ticket prices)
Ticket Prices
Call 780.425.1820 or purchase online at citadeltheatre.com
Senior/Student
Previews
Tuesday,
Wednesday,
Thursday
Saturday/Sunday
Saturday
GST will be added. Tickets subject to availability. Prices subject to change. PREVIEWS:
Tuesday, February 6; Wednesday, February 7. OPENING NIGHT:
CLOSING NIGHT:
All shows are 8:00 p.m., nightly, with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Sundays. There is a 4:00 p.m. matinee on Saturday, February 24.
There is a 9:00 p.m. evening performance on Saturday, February 24.
Call our Box Office at 425.1820, toll free 1.888.425.1820, or visit us online at citadeltheatre.com
What the critics are saying about Frida K.:
“Allegra Fulton plays Kahlo with hypnotic, impeccably calibrated intensity.”
–New York Magazine
“Fulton’s performance is mesmerizing and utterly convincing.”
-The New Yorker
“Frida K. is complex, haunted, nasty, grasping, hurting, passionate and above all, immensely
alive. Fulton gives us a vital, glowing performance.”
-Variety
“Intimate and powerful, the production and Fulton’s performance burn with the white heat of
artistic passion and passionate art.”
-Theatre Week, USA
“Allegra Fulton plays the almost mythic Kahlo with a bitter sweetness that makes her seem to be
just about the strongest woman who ever lived.”
-Time Out, New York
“Allegra Fulton ferociously inhabits Kahlo’s skin.”
-The Village Voice, New York
Dora Award (Toronto) for Outstanding Performance by a Female.
A Co-production with the National Arts Centre (Ottawa)/Go Diva Productions (Los Angeles).

Source: http://www.citadeltheatre.com/pdf/media/FridaKReleaseJan31_2007.pdf