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 the beloved novel ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE for Netflix.