ORONO – An artist. A poet. A human rights activist. Three lives. Three remarkable women.

Through music and drama, “Tres Vidas: Legendary Latinas of the Americas” will give viewers an intimate look at the lives of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Argentine poet Alfonsina Storni, and Rufina Amaya, a peasant and activist in El Salvador. Actress Georgina Corbo and The Core Ensemble, a chamber group, will present “Tres Vidas” at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Minsky Recital Hall on the University of Maine campus.

“They’re all drastically different in terms of their lives,” playwright Marjorie Agosin told a group gathered at UMaine’s Women in the Curriculum luncheon series Wednesday. “They shared an extraordinary courage, a courage that comes from overcoming fear.”

The Core Ensemble, a Florida-based chamber group that has added theater and dance to its performances to enhance the musical experience, commissioned Agosin to write “Tres Vidas.” A Spanish professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Agosin was born in Chile and came to the United States as a teenager. She earned her Ph.D. in literature from Indiana University, and since has become a distinguished, critically acclaimed poet and author.

“I didn’t come up with the idea of writing about these women, but at the same time, I knew about these women because everyone in Latin America grows up learning about these women,” Agosin said.

Though she was familiar with Kahlo, Storni and Amaya, who are regarded as feminist heroes, this project allowed her to immerse herself in their lives until it was unclear where Agosin left off and the three women began.

“How did I go about writing this text?” Agosin asked. “I read everything about the three women – everything I could find. I had a lot of empathy for these characters. It was easy to love them and to be them. I could not experience a distance from these women and I did not want to. I wanted to be there.”

It was important for Agosin to highlight the lives of Amaya and Storni, who are not as well-known among American audiences. It also was important for her to focus on lesser-known facets of Kahlo’s life, which has been documented extensively.

As a Jewish woman of Latin American heritage, Agosin found it easy to identify with Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, both of whom were Jewish. One scene in “Tres Vidas” shows Kahlo in a Chicago hotel, where a sign behind the counter reads “No blacks or Jews.”

“You will see certain scenes in the play that you will not see elsewhere, because I wanted to create a social commentary,” Agosin said.

The play reveals Kahlo’s vulnerability through her turbulent relationship with Rivera, a world-class painter, but it also speaks to her strengths. She overcame the pain of polio only to become disabled at 19 after a trolley accident. Though she suffered intense physical pain until her death in 1954, she became one of the most significant Latin American painters in history.

Amaya’s story may not be as familiar to viewers, but it is no less powerful. In 1981, during El Salvador’s civil war, the Salvadoran army killed more than 700 people – the entire population of the village of El Mozote. Amaya fell while the soldiers rounded up the villagers, and she managed to escape, but because of a government coverup, no one believed her. In the 1990s, reports by journalists Alma Prieto and Mark Danner, along with forensic evidence, proved Amaya’s story. Now nearly 60 years old, Amaya has become a vocal human rights advocate.

Agosin says poet Alfonsina Storni, who died in 1938, is the Latin American equivalent to Virginia Woolf. A leading feminist writer, Storni defied traditional gender roles by supporting herself and her child – whose father never has been revealed – through her writing.

Each of the three women is portrayed by Georgina Corbo, a stage and screen actress who lives in New York. While it’s a one-woman show, Corbo’s portrayal of each character is dynamic and well-defined.

“You will never feel you are seeing the same actress over and over again,” Agosin said.

What you will feel, Agosin hopes, is a connection with each of the women. She has found that the play appeals to audiences of diverse backgrounds. “Tres Vidas” is not just a women’s play or a feminist commentary or a Latin American performance – its message is universal.

“[Audiences] really feel it really touches something very profound in the human spirit,” Agosin said.

“Tres Vidas” will be staged at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Minsky Recital Hall, in the Class of 1944 building on the University of Maine Campus (near the Maine Center for the Arts). Tickets cost $26 and are available by calling 581-1755.