carmen rivera

Carmen Rivera (Co-Director)
Carmen holds an MA in Playwriting and Latin American Theatre from New York University. Carmen co-wrote, with Cándido Tirado, Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz, (HOLA Award 2008, Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting), which played Off-Broadway for nine months at New World Stages. She orked on The Magic of the Salsa Kingdom, with director/choreographer Maria Torres, which was presented at the Salsa Congress in Southport, England. Other Off-Broadway productions include: La Gringa (currently in repertory at Repertorio Español – OBIE 
Award 1996); La Lupe: My Life, My Destiny (2002 ACE Award – Best Production), Julia de Burgos: Child of Water, To Catch The Lightning (1997 Nomination ACE Award– Best Production); The Next Stop (INTAR / Repertorio Español); Under The Mango Tree (INTAR).

Other works include: Ghosts in Brooklyn; The Loves of our Lives; The Next Cycle; Betty’s Garage; ameRICAN; Delia’s Race; Plastic Flowers; The Power of Words; and Caravan of Death which have appeared at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); La Mama E.T.C; The Women’s Project and Productions; SOHO Rep; New Georges; New Perspectives Theatre; Martice Enterprises; Nuyorican Poet’s Café; Theatre for a New City; National Public Radio (NPR); City Lights Youth Theatre and in theatre festivals in New York, Chile, Russia, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Bolivia. 

Publications include: LA GRINGA (Samuel French); POSITIVE/NEGATIVE: women of color and HIV (Aunt Lute); ONE-ACTS AT THE WOMEN’S PROJECT; WOMEN WHO WRITE THEATRE (Smith and Kraus) and NUESTRO NEW YORK (Penguin USA.). 

candido tirado

Cándido Tirado (Co-Director)
His play, Fish Men was produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, in the Spring of 2012. Fish Men received 4 Jeff Award Nominations and was also nominated for a Steinberg Award. He co-wrote, with Carmen Rivera, the  musical The Life and Music of Celia Cruz, (HOLA Award 2008, Outstanding  Achievement in Playwriting), which successfully ran Off-Broadway for 9 months and is currently on a world tour. His Off Broadway productions include King Without a Castle, Checking Out, First Class at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater; Momma’s Boyz and The Barber Shop at Spanish Repertory. Some of his other productions include The Missteps of a Salsa Dancer at Latino Experimental Fantastic Theater; From Dating to Death in Five Easy 
Steps at INTAR by L.E.F.T.; Ilka: The Dream at La MaMa; King Without a Castle was also work shopped at Sundance Theater Lab.; Some People Have All The Luck was produced at the National Theater of Santo Domingo, Ollantay, Shaman Rep. and Solo Teatro; Heart Stopping Sex was produced by Soho Rep.; In The Name Of Love at Pregones.

His other plays include, The Second Son, Hey There Black Cat, Abuelo, Fish Men, The Missing Colors of the Rainbow. He co-wrote award winning short film with Alfredo Bejar, "Getting to Heaven," and was a staff writer for the TV show Ghostwriter. He's the only playwright to be a four-time recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship. 

Publications: First Class: Arte Publico Recent Puerto Rican Theater, Five Plays from New York; Penguin, Mentor Books; Some People Have All the Luck: Nuestro New York: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Playwrights; Ilka-The Dream: Positive/Negative – Women of color and HIV and AIDS, Aunt Lute Publishers.