Tlaloc Rivas

Tlaloc Rivas

Tlaloc Rivas is a writer, director, and theatre-maker who creates, develops and directs new plays focusing on the complexity, diversity and history of Latina/os in the United States and abroad. He also directs bilingual plays, classical and contemporary pieces, and new work by some of America's most exciting writers.

Tlaloc is a core founding member of the Latinx Theatre Commons and of its...
Tlaloc Rivas is a writer, director, and theatre-maker who creates, develops and directs new plays focusing on the complexity, diversity and history of Latina/os in the United States and abroad. He also directs bilingual plays, classical and contemporary pieces, and new work by some of America's most exciting writers.

Tlaloc is a core founding member of the Latinx Theatre Commons and of its online platform, Café Onda. As former Co-Chair of the LTC's National Steering Committee, he helped organize the largest gathering of Latina/o artists in 25 years at Emerson College, Boston. He is a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop, a member of the Dramtists Guild, and an Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

He is currently a Presidential Post-Doctorate Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama.

Plays

  • DIVISADERO by Tlaloc Rivas
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    An interim provost at a women’s college is confronted with a potentially explosive situation when a lauded Chicanx scholar arrives to confront the administration on how her daughter (an alum) and her literary legacy may be being cultural appropriated. A new play which examines white fragility and the erasure of Latinx narratives.
  • LA FUERZA DE ANTÍGONA by Tlaloc Rivas
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, drama + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: bilingual, ensemble + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, drama, movement/physical, political, tragedy, translation
    Keyword: bilingual, ensemble, people of color, Latinx, Greek, retelling, Chicanx, genderqueer, gender nonconforming
    When Créon, emperador de ‘La frontera’, refuses to bury the body of Antígona's brother, her anger quickly turns to defiance. Creon condemns her to death, unleashing a torrent of events that spin of control. This re-telling of Sophocles’ play, set in the near future and performed by refugees, deportees, and ‘the exiled’, this play reframes its telling into a cry for justice and morality. La fuerza de...
    When Créon, emperador de ‘La frontera’, refuses to bury the body of Antígona's brother, her anger quickly turns to defiance. Creon condemns her to death, unleashing a torrent of events that spin of control. This re-telling of Sophocles’ play, set in the near future and performed by refugees, deportees, and ‘the exiled’, this play reframes its telling into a cry for justice and morality. La fuerza de Antígona is a radical re-imagining about loyalty, sacrifice, and how we make meaning out of life, death, and the legacy of ‘borders’.
  • JOHANNA: FACING FORWARD by Tlaloc Rivas
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, biography + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: latina, Latino + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, biography, docudrama/historic, drama, movement/physical, political, young audiences
    Keyword: latina, Latino, domestic violence, Teen Dating, journalism, law, college, university, family, bilingual
    Johanna: Facing Forward explores the topic of domestic violence, community response, and personal resilience through the story of Johanna Orozco. At age 18 Johanna survives a brutal attack by her ex-boyfriend. Recovering with the help of her extended family, a committed medical team, and a new friend in journalist Rachel Dissell, Johanna ultimately must choose to face her attacker in order to move forward in...
    Johanna: Facing Forward explores the topic of domestic violence, community response, and personal resilience through the story of Johanna Orozco. At age 18 Johanna survives a brutal attack by her ex-boyfriend. Recovering with the help of her extended family, a committed medical team, and a new friend in journalist Rachel Dissell, Johanna ultimately must choose to face her attacker in order to move forward in her life. After her assailant is sentenced, Johanna’s advocacy helps close loopholes in her state’s laws to protect and support other young people facing intimate-partner violence. Johanna: Facing Forward was inspired by the investigative journalism of Rachel Dissell of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the personal writings of Johanna Orozco (now Orozco-Fraser). All three individuals endorsed the creation of this play, supported its development, and attended its world premiere at the Cleveland Public Theatre in 2015.

    Update 12/23/15: The play was awarded second prize in the 2015 Repertorio Español MetLife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition.
  • BYZANTINE by Tlaloc Rivas
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: LGBTQ
    A young college student and a woman selling her wares at a garage sale begin an exchange that leads to a reckoning of their own lives. 10-minute play.
  • FROM THE EDGE OF THE DEEP GREEN SEA by Tlaloc Rivas
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy
    ·
    Keyword: Fantasy, Latinx + 4 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy
    Keyword: Fantasy, Latinx, jazz, Sex, female friendship, Southwest
    An enigmatic story of a tryst - or is it more complicated than that? A short play about believing before seeing.