Pre-Show Discussion: Emily Rapp Black in Conversation with Vanessa Severo
Join us online for this conversation between Emily Rapp Black, The New York Times bestselling author of Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg, and Vanessa Severo, actor/playwright of Frida ... A Self Portrait. Both artists will discuss how the life, art, and disabilities of Frida Kahlo have impacted their work.
The event is free and will be streamed live in our main lobby and on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
Emily Rapp Black is the author of Poster Child: A Memoir (BloomsburyUSA) and The Still Point of the Turning World (Penguin Press), a New York Times bestseller and an Editor’s Pick. A former Fulbright scholar, she was educated at Harvard University, Trinity College-Dublin, Saint Olaf College, and the University of Texas-Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. A Guggenheim Fellow, she has received awards and fellowships from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Jentel Arts Foundation, the Corporation of Yaddo, the Fine Arts Work Center, Fundacion Valparaiso, and Bucknell University. Her work has appeared in VOGUE, The New York Times, Die Zeit, The Times-London, Lenny Letter, The Sun, TIME, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, O the Oprah Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications and anthologies.
She is currently the associate professor of creative writing at the University of California-Riverside, where she also teaches medical narratives in the School of Medicine. She is a member of the Inequities in Health Care Working Group and an architect of the Medical Narratives minor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She was recently named the nonfiction editor of The Los Angeles Review of Books. Her book that explores art and disability through the life of Frida Kahlo was published by Nottinghill Editions/New York Review of Books in June of 2021. She is the mother of two children: Ronan (2010-2013) and Charlotte (age 6).
Vanessa Severo is the recipient of the TCG 11th Round of the Fox Foundation resident Actor Fellowships, 2017. She is the playwright and actor of Frida ... A Self Portrait (2020 Kilroys’ List) a one-woman production about the tumultuous and brilliant life of Frida Kahlo. Vanessa is passionate about utilizing the element of Suzuki method in her work to challenge the boundaries of storytelling, and explore the depths of movement, composition, and the power of stillness.
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Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying & interrupting instances of racism & all forms of oppression, through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA).
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