By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
It’s not often you hear a group of 9 and 10-year-olds discuss the inspiration they draw from art. But over at Carrboro Elementary School, a fourth-grade class has taken that inspiration and turned it into theater.
Students in Aida Groby’s fourth-grade class, which is part of the Spanish-English dual-language program, first learned about the work of Frida Kahlo in their Spanish class with Charlotte Garza, and next week they’ll perform a play about Kahlo.
“The play is a little bit about Frida Kahlo’s life,†said Karis Dean, who co-directs the play with Shaliny Kumar-Hardy. “We all really liked her art. It was just funky and stuff.
“Her life was kind of inspiring to us,†she added.
The students said after learning about Kahlo’s life, they wanted to explore it more. Their fellow students at Carrboro Elementary had recently performed Seussical Junior, encouraging Groby’s class to stage a theatrical production of their own.
“Ideas can really come to life,†Flora Arnsberger said.
For the past couple of months, the students have written, directed and rehearsed the play, which they hope will draw a large audience come performance time.
The play is mostly in Spanish, with a few parts in English. The students also created their own props and designed their own costumes, which include Kahlo’s trademark unibrow.
Max Kurzman said he was particularly inspired by Kahlo’s self-portraits.
“She didn’t try to make it seem happy,†he said, noting Kahlo’s depictions of the difficulties she faced throughout her life.
The play includes several of the obstacles Kahlo overcame, including the pain she endured after an accident.
“She almost got killed on a bus,†Coleman LeMoine explained. In one scene, students act out Kahlo’s near-death experience on that bus.
All of the production – including the script for the more intense scenes – has been the work of the students.
“I have only supervised,†Groby said. “They have confronted some interesting situations.â€
The students said that when they encountered conflicts while working on the play, they took a vote to make decisions.
“You have to be careful with everyone’s feelings,†Sarah Warner cautioned.
To determine who played which roles in the play – which includes three Fridas and one Diego Rivera – the students conducted auditions among themselves. Those that aren’t acting in the play help with props and technical elements.
The students will perform the play at noon on March 24 in the Carrboro Elementary auditorium.
