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José Rivera - Fall Reading Series Preshow Discussion

Episode Summary

Playwright Jose Rivera chats with Peggy McKowen before the staged reading of his play "Your Name Means Dream".

Episode Notes

We promised you more info about Jose, because the episode would have been two hours long if we tried to talk about all of his plays and accomplishments - so take a look at his bio!

José Rivera’s 26 full-length plays have been seen nationally and internationally and translated into a dozen languages.  His Obie Award-winners Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, both produced by The Public Theatre, NY, are taught at universities around the country, as well as his essay “36 Assumptions about Playwriting.”  Other plays include Cloud Tectonics, Sueño, Sonnets for an Old Century, The Street of the Sun, Giants Have Us In Their Books, Boleros for the Disenchanted, Brainpeople, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), The Last Book of Homer, Adoration of the Old Woman, Lovesong (Imperfect), and Your Name Means Dream.  His screenplay “The Motorcycle Diaries,” was nominated for 2005 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar (making him the first Puerto Rican writer so honored), as well as a BAFTA and WGA Award.   “Motorcycle” took top screenwriting honors in Argentina and Spain.  His film adaptation “On the Road” premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and his “Trade” was the first film to premiere at the United Nations.  Rivera co-created and produced “Eerie, Indiana,” (NBC) and was a staff writer on “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” (Showtime) in 2019.  He has written and directed the award-winning short films “The Fall of a Sparrow” and “The Civet,” co-produced by Sara Koviak’s Lively Lady Studios.  He has served on the boards of Theatre Communication Group and the Sundance Institute, and mentored at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in Utah, Jordan, and India.  During the pandemic Rivera wrote all 16 episodes of the upcoming TV adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude for Netflix.