Artist Bio

(Bio as of October 2021)

José Rivera (Playwright) is a recipient of two Obie Awards for Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, both produced by the Public Theater. Plays seen at the Goodman include Cloud Tectonics, Boleros for the Disenchanted, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), Another Word for Beauty, Sueño and The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona, which appeared as part of New Stages. Other plays include Sonnets for an Old Century (Nuyorican Poet’s Café, Steppenwolf Theatre); School of the Americas (Public Theater); Brainpeople (ACT/San Francisco); Adoration of the Old Woman (Sundance Theatre Lab, INTAR, La Jolla Playhouse); The Maids (INTAR); The Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Menier Chocolate Factory, London); Each Day Dies with Sleep (Circle Rep, Berkeley Rep, Orange Tree Theatre, London); Lovesong (Imperfect) (14th Street Y, directed by the author); The Street of the Sun (Mark Taper Forum); and The House of Ramon Iglesia (Ensemble Studio Theatre). His screenplay The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for 2005 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar—making him the first Puerto Rican writer ever nominated for an Academy Award—as well as a BAFTA and Writers Guild Award and received top screenwriting awards in Argentina and Spain. Other films include On the Road, Trade and The 33. Rivera co-created and produced Eerie, Indiana, (NBC) and was a consultant and staff writer on Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (Showtime). He has written 18 episodes of the Netflix series based on One Hundred Years of Solitude.  Rivera wrote and directed the short films The Fall of a Sparrow and The Civet. His latest screenplay is A Song for the Recycled Orchestra. He has served on the boards of TCG and the Sundance Institute and was a Creative Advisor at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in Utah, Jordan and India.  Rivera recently completed directing a zoom film production of Sonnets for an Old Century for Paula Vogel’s Bard at the Gate.