Review by anonymous
June 21, 2026 certified reviewerWhat I liked
As Novello takes the audience on a midnight walk through the Mexico City of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jean Charlot, Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, and others involved in the cultural scene of 20th century Mexico, the fierce boldness of Novello’s performance echoes the raw, unfiltered intensity with which Nahui Olin lived her own life, as well as providing glimpses into her personal joys and suffering. The name Nahui Olin (a Nahuatl phrase describing the sun’s four cyclical movements in Aztec cosmology alluding to renewal and change) was given to Carmen Mondragón by her mentor and lover, the writer, painter and intellectual Gerardo Murillo, aka Dr. Atl. In “I am Nahui Olin” Jessica Silvetti’s script and direction birth a fascinating intimate monologue that faithfully portrays a country and a woman on the verge of liberation, identity and artistic creativity.
What I didn't like
Would have loved for the stage concept to use the screen to show period images of Mexico City, Nahui Olin herself, her father, her paintings, her poetry book covers, and photographs of a few of the important political and cultural figures in her story.
Street parking is hard to find in East Hollywood. Easy, $8 app parking is available a few blocks away at the Bank of America on Melrose at Western.
My overall impression
Virgina Novello masterfully dramatizes the passionate life of Mexican poet, painter, transgressive muse, artist’s model, pianist, bon vivant, and feminist Carmen Mondragón, aka Nahui Olin (after 1921) and recreates her journeys from Mexico City to Paris, France to San Sebastian, Spain and back to Mexico City during the bohemian modern art movement of the 1920s to 1930s.
