news | Friday May 15, 2026

Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project Has Arrived!

The final book of our spring 2026 season has arrived and the spring list is going out with a bang! Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project by award-winning author and playwright Carmen Aguirre has arrived! In Fire Never Dies, Aguirre maps the intersection between art and revolution through the life of photographer and activist Tina Modotti. Modotti’s story begins in 1920s Mexico City, where her art flourished and she encountered other icons of the day, including Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. However, after seven years she abandoned photography to join the antifascist cause, ultimately running the Red Aid Hospital during the Spanish Civil War.

An excerpt from Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project:

“TINA
Chloroform, syringes, insulin, camphor, anti-tetanus shots, anti-
gangrene, tourniquets.

SAGRADX CORAZÓN
Soap and water to wash the wounds.

TINA
Go to the ones who are suffering the most first, because
suffering is a sign of life. …
(yelling out) Comrade Hemingway!

ERNEST enters.

ERNEST
Yes.

TINA
You won’t be driving the ambulance today.

ERNEST
Okay.

TINA
You’ll drive this vehicle instead.

ERNEST
What is it?

TINA
A mobile transfusion unit. Donated by the Canadian
Communist Party. There are injured comrades in the trenches
that we need to get to right away. Comrade Bethune is waiting
for us there.

ERNEST
Yes, Nurse Maria.

_TINA and ERNEST ride in the vehicle. We hear the sound
of a war plane._

TINA
(looking out the window) Cazzo.

ERNEST
Franco’s, Hitler’s, or Mussolini’s?

TINA
(still looking) It’s too far away to tell. Fuck fuck fuck. Are you
religious, by any chance?

ERNEST
God no! Is it coming towards us or veering off ?

TINA
Can’t tell yet.

ERNEST
What do I do?

TINA
(still looking) Keep going.”

Through a dynamic blend of styles and theatrical forms, the play mirrors Modotti’s struggle to reconcile passion, creativity, and political conviction. Order your copy here.