Jose Rivera was born in Puerto Rico in 1955 where he was raised until, at the age of four, his family migrated to Long Island, New York. From a young age Rivera was drawn to the stage and has become on of the more prolific contemporary Latino playwrights. Because of this, his list of awards is astonishing, including two OBIE Awards, a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Grant, a Fulbright Arts Fellowship, the Whiting Writers’ Award, a McKnight Fellowship, the Norman Lear Writing Award, an Impact Award, and a Berilla Kerr Playwriting Award. As if that were not enough, Rivera helped to found the Los Angeles-based theatre company, The Wilton Project, is the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Oscar, and was nominated for the Acadamy Award as a screenwriter for the film The Motorcycle Diaries.

Through “Boleros for the Disenchanted” Rivera relays the complicated story of his mother. Beginning at courtship, the play follows his young parents in Puerto Rico and their dreams as a couple including their desire to migrate to the United States. The second act, then switches to the later years in his parents marriage where they have been struck with the harsh reality of unaccomplished dreams and past mistakes. Despite the personal nature of the play as a tribute to his own mother, Rivera’s skill as a writer universalizes their love, dreams, marriage and fears of mortality.—compiled by Emily Cousins

Tickets for “Boleros for the Disenchanted” are already on sale by calling 503-236-7253 weekdays 8:30am-5pm or online anytime.