Nun so bold: Odalys Nanin stars as legendary Mexican nun Sor Juana, who wooed a countess with poems that still live today.

A nun slips into her bed after observing the night sky, and underneath the sheets she begins to moan with pleasure. Her servant enters and tries to join her but is strongly rebuked. "My dear girl," the nun says tenderly, "if I ask you to leave, it is not because of what you have done but because of how weak I have been."

So begins The Nun and the Countess, a new play written, produced, and directed by Odalys Nanin, creator of 2001's acclaimed Garbo's Cuban Lover. The play, tutoring October 25 through December 14 at the Hollywood Court Theater in Los Angeles, is based on Alicia Gaspar de Alba's novel Sor Juana's Second Dream, about the real-life Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (played by Nanin), a 17th-century Mexican nun of such cultural impact that her face is now on the 200-peso bill. "She is considered the first feminist of the Americas," beams Nanin. "And she is considered to be the most prolific and famous poet of the golden age of Spanish literature."

The countess of the title, meanwhile, refers to the Spanish representative in Mexico, Countess Maria Luisa de Paredes (played by Jodi Fleisher), who formed a deep relationship with Sor Juana and was the subject of much of the nun's published romantic poetry--a fact hidden from most of her readers.

"I've been reading Sor Juana's poems since my college years," says Nanin with a wide, open smile. "It never crossed my mind that she was a lesbian. I would read these beautiful poems to my girlfriends."

Nanin knows about near-impossible undertakings. Since 1997 she has been staging successful, well-received theatrical productions about the Hispanic lesbian experience, even forming her own theater company, MACHA--Mujeres (Women) Advancing Culture, History, and Art--in 2000. Nanin's efforts haven't gone unnoticed: A Paris run of Garbo's Cuban Lover', about writer Mercedes de Acosta's affair with movie star Greta Garbo, is planned for next year. Meanwhile, Nanin won the attention of famed playwright Maria Irene Fornes: The Nun and the Countess was developed under her aegis.

How does Nanin keep up the pace? The entrepreneurial artist, who also works as an actress and Spanish language interpreter, attributes her success to careful selection of her subjects, dedication to quality, and most important, an abiding respect for her audience.

"Theater is a different kind of animal," she says. "We don't depend on ratings. We depend on attracting the audience in terms of the quality of the story and the quality of the production and performance.... I cannot do what I do without my audience that comes and supports it every time. And they crone back two, three times for the same play. I must tell you, it's worth everything just to have them come back."

Vary also writes for Entertainment Weekly.