What the Water Gave Me

Inspired by Frida Kahlo’s work of the same name centering on her self-comfort in times of grief, this play explores the themes of care-giving and motherhood through the lens of a surreal theatrical experience: a modern day woman waking up in Frida Kahlo’s bathtub with no recollection of how she got there (or how she travelled back in time) and discovering that Frida is convinced she is the reincarnation of the...

Inspired by Frida Kahlo’s work of the same name centering on her self-comfort in times of grief, this play explores the themes of care-giving and motherhood through the lens of a surreal theatrical experience: a modern day woman waking up in Frida Kahlo’s bathtub with no recollection of how she got there (or how she travelled back in time) and discovering that Frida is convinced she is the reincarnation of the child she recently miscarried.
The two-woman play utilizes music and movement/dance elements to evoke symbolic images of motherhood and nurturing found in Kahlo’s work at the same time interrogating the toll those expectations take on the individual women. Throughout the course of the play, Vivian and Frida navigate their understanding of their connection to each other and bring the audience into awareness of how society’s notions of motherhood and care-giving can become unbearable burdens that prevent women from self-actualization.

  • Inquire About Rights
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Library

What the Water Gave Me

Recommended by

  • Jillian Blevins: What the Water Gave Me

    WTWGM is an achingly beautiful marvel of a play. Utilizing startling imagery drawn from the art of Frida Kahlo, McClain explores life and death, pain and comfort, creation and deterioration. The simultaneous tenderness and loneliness of caretaking is the pulsing, bloody heart of her story of mothers and daughters.

    McClain’s Kahlo and reluctant time traveler Vivian are drawn together by mutual longing—Frida for a daughter, and Vivian for purpose, meaning, and the open-hearted nurturing she never received from her own mother. With tremendous sensitivity and evocative language, WTWGM packs two...

    WTWGM is an achingly beautiful marvel of a play. Utilizing startling imagery drawn from the art of Frida Kahlo, McClain explores life and death, pain and comfort, creation and deterioration. The simultaneous tenderness and loneliness of caretaking is the pulsing, bloody heart of her story of mothers and daughters.

    McClain’s Kahlo and reluctant time traveler Vivian are drawn together by mutual longing—Frida for a daughter, and Vivian for purpose, meaning, and the open-hearted nurturing she never received from her own mother. With tremendous sensitivity and evocative language, WTWGM packs two lifetimes of heartache into one powerful act.

Character Information

  • Vivian
    Character Age
    20's-30's
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    Any
    Character Gender Identity
    Female
  • Frida
    Character Age
    30's
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    Latinx / Mexican
    Character Gender Identity
    Female

Development History

  • Type Workshop, Organization Synchronicity Theatre, Year 2021

Awards

  • William Faulkner One Act Competition
    William Faulkner Literary Society
    Winner
    2022