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She was born in Havana, Cuba in 1930. -
It was a revolt from sergeants and enlisted men who united with student activists in the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario, which was a group that was from the Universidad de Habana. -
Fores at age 15 moved to New York City with her sister Margarita and her mami Carmen -
During the 1950s NYC saw a boom in architecture, cultural, and musical.
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In 1954, Fornes got together with Harriet Sohmers and moved to Paris where she planned to study painting. Fornés saw the production of "Waiting for Gagot" by Samuel Beckett which inspired her. She moved back to NYC after breaking up with her girlfriend in 1957.
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During the 1960s there was a movement to fight for the right of Black Americans to be equally valued as a white persons
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Fornés entered into a relationship with Susan Sontag when she moved back to New York.
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Fornés wrote her first piece titled "La Vuida", which mean "The Widow" but it wasnt considered her first because it was never published. -
During this time, there was an uproar for equality for women. They were fighting for equal rights in the workspace as in pay and recognition.
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The Successful Life of 3 premiers which is about a playfully examines the intersecting lives and relationships of two men and the woman they sometimes share. Its characters are nameless archetypes; He, She and 3, who careen through ten episodic vaudevillian scenes. -
Fornes won her first Obie Award for her work in The Successful Life of 3. -
She taught playwrighting at Yale for two years.
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Fornes moved to Boston University Tanglewood and became teacher there and taught theatre. -
She was given the Guggenheim Fellowship Category: Creative Arts, Field of Study: Drama and Performance Artto to advance and expand her own playwrighting abilities. -
She was awarded the Rockefeller Foundation grant which went toward workshops for playwrights at universities and theaters both in the US and abroad. -
Fefu and Her Friends. The play is a milestone in her career, breaking from traditional theatrical structures. It uses unconventional staging, and its portrayal of women in a non-linear narrative challenged social norms and expectations. This play became one of her most significant contributions to the American theater -
Fornes was awarded another Obie award for directing on Eyes on the harem. -
It explores the lives of women within a Turkish harem, focusing on the power dynamics, social restrictions, and psychological complexities experienced by the female inhabitants under the watchful eyes of the men in power -
Maria Irene Fornes went on to receive 8 more Obie Awards for her work.
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On September 11th, 4 planes were hijacked and crashed in to the world trade centers, the pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. -
She was the first Recipient of the Mujeres (Women) Advancing Culture, History, and Art (MACHA) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mentoring Latina Writers -
In 2005, Fornes was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. It is a brain disorder that causes a gradual decline in memory, thinking, and behavior. -
Due to her medical situation she did stop writing but she made a documentary with Michelle Memran about the memories she does have -
Maria Irene Fornes died at age 88 in Manhattan, New York, NY in Amsterdam Nursing Home. -
https://www.fornesinstitute.com/about/biography
https://www.history101.nyc/nyc-history-from-1950-to-1955
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Irene_Forn%C3%A9s#
https://www.therestimakeup.com/the-story#:~:text=But%20Fornes%20did%20not%20set,to%20Paris%20in%20the%201950s.
https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-second-wave#:~:text=In%20between%20the%20first%20and,answered%20complex%20and%20philosophical%20questions.