By: Savannah Havird
Welcome to Hispanic Heritage Month! In celebration, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Division of Student Affairs, the Student Government Union and the Center for Global Engagement presented: Tres Vidas! This was chamber music theatre work conceived and performed by the core ensemble. This event took place on Monday, Sep 30, 2019 at 7 pm and was based on the lives of three legendary Latin American women.
The core ensemble included: Ju Young Lee playing the cello, Grace Han playing the piano and Michael Parola on the percussion. Acting in all three scenes was Jenyvette Vega, actress, singer, songwriter and dancer. She portrayed three different characters throughout the duration of this play.
Vegas’ role as Frida Kahlo, known for her paintings and poetry who was injured at the age of 19 and partially disabled for the rest of her life, was her favorite to act out. “I love the role of Frida because the personality is similar to my own,” Vega stated when asked her favorite part was to play. She also played Rufina Amaya, sole survivor of the massacre at El Mozote. Vega stated that, “Rufina was the hardest role to play because of her age.” Lastly, Vega played Alfonsina Storni, Argentina’s most popular women poet suffering from cancer. Throughout each scene, the core ensemble played music in the background that went along with each scene.
Scene one was about the home of Frida Kahola and Diego Rivera, located at the Casa Azul in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico, one evening in 1941. Scene two was about in the jungle outside El Mozote, El Salvador, a few days after the massacre of 11 Dec, 1981. Lastly, scene three is at the beach at Mar del Plata, Argentina, the evening of Oct 24, 1938.
When asking her why she decided to attend this event, Kylie Culver, sophomore history major, stated “Because of my history major, and I appreciate Hispanic heritage month.” This play shows many emotions of sadness, anger and so on that was portrayed very well by Vega and left the audience at aw. Jeffrey Senese, President of Saint Leo University, said “My favorite part was when she played Frida because I love poetry. It was really great and reminded me of the time I have spent in Mexico.”
Vega stated how passionate she is about acting these roles and that she wants to “spread the word of different cultural backgrounds that Latinos have.” This play was extremely powerful and showed a lot of emotions through the way that Vega portrayed it. Not only was the emotion strong within the audience but Vega also became emotional while she was acting the roles. Vega said, “I get emotional in between sets and have to tell myself to be the strong women I am.” With happy tears in their eyes, the audience and cheered Vega off the stage.
