“I drank to drown my pain, but the damned pain learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good behavior.” —Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo is the subject of a performance created by award-winning theater artist Deborah L. Sherman. “Frida: Unmasked,” a new commission by Next@19th, examines Kahlo’s life through a Jewish lens. Sherman, a Colombian Jew, embodies Kahlo’s “lifelong struggle with pain–both real and imagined.” I spoke briefly with Sherman about “Frida: Unmasked,” which opens this Saturday, March 1st at 8 p.m. at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse. Frida Kahlo de Rivera, Diego Rivera and Malú Block by Carl Van Vechten, 1932.

Neil de la Flor: Why “Frida: Unmasked”?

Deborah L. Sherman: The perspective of this Frida piece is unusual and unexpected. If people know anything about her, it seems to be the same information: married to Diego Rivera; trolley accident; uni-browed, bi-sexual, mustachioed painter. But she was so much more.

ND: What’s your take on Frida’s life story?

DS: My take on her story is telling it through the lens of chronic pain. How does that kind of physical suffering manifest itself into something so captivating and beautiful on a canvas? How does an artist deal with loss, and how is that loss shared with us, the viewer, in such a real and visceral way? How can we cope with such incredible pain and share such glorious, haunting and healing images with the rest of the world?

ND: Sharing these haunting, healing images is important because…?

DS: We all suffer in some way. We overcome it and eventually soar in spite of and because of the hand we are dealt.

Following the performance, there will be a panel discussion on the making of the piece and representations of indeterminate identity. This discussion is presented in partnership with my organization, Reading Queer.

“Frida: Unmasked” will be performed Saturday, March 1st at 8 p.m. at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, 404 N.W. 26th St., Miami. Tickets are $18-25; to purchase, visit here.