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Irene was born during the Great Depression which took a big toll on her and her family's economic status.
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Maria Irene Fornes went by Irene and was born in Havana, Cuba to her parents Carlos Fornes and Carmen Collado Fornes. She was the youngest of six siblings. -
Irene did not attend school as a child. Once she moved to NY she worked at a shoe factory. She later quit and decided to paint, and received an education in the arts downtown among painters, dancers, theater artists, musicians, and writers. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann.
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In 1945 at just 15 Irene and her family moved to the United States. She was raised in Cuba till she was 15 when her father had a heart attack they moved to New York with her sister, Margarita, and her mother for better opportunities. -
She began her artistic life as a painter, but after seeing a French production of Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in Paris with her then girlfriend Harriet Sohmer, her interest shifted to the theater. Many times, her themes included feminist, gay, Hispanic and political views. -
Irene dated Harriet for a few years, Harriet was a writer and a model.
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After Irene and Harriet broke up, Harriet began dating Susan Sontag. This would later twist into Maria Irene Fornes's love life.
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Fornés met the writer Susan Sontag, who dated her former partner, Harriet Sohmers for a year, at a party and began a relationship that lasted several years. Susan was a woman that was known as a writer, philosopher, and political activist. -
Her first play, La Viuda (The Widow), was created from translated letters she brought from Cuba that were written to her great-grandfather by a cousin from Spain. This was Maria's first professional play but isn't really counted by many. -
When Sontag voiced frustration about a novel she wanted to write, Fornes and Sontag sat down at the kitchen table. Fornes began to write, as well. With no experience and no idea how to start, she opened up a cookbook at random and started a short story using the first word of each sentence on the page. "I might never have thought of writing if I hadn't pretended I was going to show Susan how easy it was."- Irene -
Irenes second play, based on letters from her cousin and great grandfather, "There! You Died" that was later changed to be titles "Tango Palace" -
Fornés also explored the intersections between music and theatre. Her Obie award-winning 1965 musical, Promenade, follows two escaped convicts as they careen through urban class conflict. -
Obie Award for Distinguished Plays: Promenade and The Successful Life of 3. She would go on to win a total of 9 Obies in her life time. (The obies are off broadway play awards) -
Irene started directing her own plays after a 1973 production of her 1968 play Molly's dream. She felt a connection with her plays she wanted to display. She felt other directors didnt understand her plays the way she did. -
Not only is this one of Irenes most famous plays but also one of her most unique. During this play, the audience would move throughout the building to watch different scenes. The audience is divided into groups to watch each scene, then they rotate to the next set, as the scene is repeated until each group has seen all four scenes. -
Fornés taught playwriting at the INTAR Hispanic Playwrights in Residence Lab, which she founded. She was considered the “mother of Latinx theatre” in the United States as a result of her work as a teacher.
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Sarita is a play about exual desires and moral values to the point of insanity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarita_(play) -
A finalist for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize, it combines four one-acts that follow an extended family trying to escape their past. Many of her plays consisted of poverty, torture, and AIDS. AIDS was a very big problem in the 80's.
https://www.sfgmc.org/blog/aids-crisis-1980s?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20548952367&keyword=history%20of%20aids&matchtype=p&network=g&device=c&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAxreqBhAxEiwAfGfndHOeFCcKZZh_QoXmdI8jyTfXmY3zii_SZ0i5audmvwwl9iLFUV8FsxoCeUwQAvD_BwE -
a young girl marries older man and has affairs. This play goes on to win an Obie award (off-Broadway theatre) for best play. -
Letters From Cuba is based off the letters Irenes brother would write to her from Cuba now that she was living in New York. -
She was diagnosed in 2005 and lived the rest of her life in care facilities. Alzheimer's is a brain disorder that causes people to forget normal day to day things. -
Although at the time dealing with dementia, she collab's with Michelle Memran, a writer, to relive what she does remember. A play written about her life. -
Maria died on October 30, 2018 in Manhattan, New York in her Nursing Home at the age of 88 due to Alzheimer's disease. She was taken care of by her friends, family, old colleagues, and her students. -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Irene_Forn%C3%A9s#cite_note-9
https://stageagent.com/shows/play/23521/letters-from-cuba
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Irene-Fornes
https://atom.library.miami.edu/fornes-maria-irene
https://www.fornesinstitute.com/about/biography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fefu_and_Her_Friends
https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/upstage-guides-current/refocus-year-two/maria-irene-fornes-a-biography/#fornes-as-teacher -