Tlaloc Rivas

Tlaloc Rivas was born in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. He is named after the Aztec God of Rain and Fertility, Tlaloc. Rivas spent his early childhood in Mexico and has noted that his family members were word of mouth storytellers. The early exposure he had to storytelling helped Rivas shape and develop his own storytelling skills at a young age. His parents were both involved in the Chicano Movement from the late 1960's into the 1970's while living in San Diego, and Rivas' honorary godfather at his baptism was civil rights leader Rodolfo Gonzalez.

Rivas' family later moved from Escondido, California to Watsonville, California where he attended Watsonville High School. Rivas graduated from high school and planned to pursue a college education in history and political science. He enrolled at Cabrillo College, where theatre classes prompted him to get involved with theatre in general. In 1993, after having interned with El Teatro Campesino for nearly two seasons, Rivas along with three other classmates (Manuel Montez, Leonard Maestas and Renee Sola) founded Chicano TheatreWorks. In the Fall of 1993, Rivas transferred to The University of California, Santa Cruz. He graduated with honors from UC Santa Cruz within a two year period, obtaining a B.A. in Theater Arts. During his time at UC Santa Cruz, Rivas focused on acting and stage management, but transitioned into directing with a production of The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe and a senior thesis production of The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa by acclaimed playwright Luis Valdez.

In 1996, Rivas was only one of two directors nationwide accepted into the School of Drama at the University of Washington. As a student in the Professional Directors Training Program, he studied under M. Burke Walker (founder of the acclaimed Empty Space Theatre in Seattle, Washington) and Valerie Curtis-Newton. He directed productions such as José Rivera's The House of Ramon Iglesia, The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca and Octavio Solis' El Paso Blue.During his final year of graduate studies, he completed a Directing Fellowship with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, serving as assistant director on their productions of Othello and The Good Person of Szechuan. Rivas graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing from UW in 1999.

Tlaloc Rivas started writing and directing plays in California and has since then done the same in other states including New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Mexico, Washington, and Iowa. While still an undergraduate student, Rivas served as Artistic Director of Chicano TheatreWorks, a company which he also helped establish. Then, while he was in graduate school, he further dived into his professional career as a director with a position as Artistic Associate for The Group Theatre in Seattle. Upon obtaining his MFA in Directing, Rivas was appointed Artistic Director for Venture Theater Company.

In the early 2000s, Rivas was selected for the Career Development Program for Directors, administered by Theatre Communications Group and the National Endowment of the Arts. Rivas continued working extensively as a visiting Guest Director or Adjunct Professor at Bryn Mawr College, Arcadia University and University of the Arts. Through this program, he assisted and observed many esteemed stage directors, including Oskar Eustis on Homebody/Kabul, Emily Mann on Anna in the Tropics, Joseph Chaikin on Shut-Eye, and Lisa Peterson on Chavez Ravine by Culture Clash.

In 2004, he moved to New York City and continued his freelance career as a director. In 2009, Rivas directed an acclaimed production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht at Queens College and the following year he took the position of Assistant Professor of Theatre at The University of Missouri- St. Louis. Finally, in 2012, he accepted a position at The University of Iowa as Assistant Professor of Directing (where he remains currently) while also teaching within the university's Latino Studies program.

In between and while working at these academic institutions, Rivas maintains a high professional directing profile with regional productions across the United States. Rivas has directed at companies such as Aurora Theatre Company, Cleveland Public Theatre, Halcyon Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, New Harmony Project, Quantum Theatre and Merrimack Repertory Theatre, among others.

In 2015, Rivas directed his most recognized original written piece: Johanna: Facing Forward. Also during 2015, Johanna: Facing Forward brought him to win second place in the MetLife Nuestras Voces Playwriting Competition. In addition to this recognition, Rivas has also been a recipient of the Sir John Gielgud Fellowship in Classical Directing and honored by a Most Ambitious Production award from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for The New World.

Johanna: Facing Forward

Tlaloc Rivas' original work Johanna: Facing Forward is based on actual events. In 2007, Joanna Orozco was shot in the face by her ex-boyfriend. Johanna, who was only 18 years old at the time, went through intense recovery and post-recovery she went on to advocate for the rights of victims of domestic violence. To write his play, Rivas focused on the special series that Rachel Dissell wrote about Joanna Orozco for The Plain Dealer.

In its entirety, Johanna: Facing Forward is a bilingual play that primarily grapples with abusive relationships, assault and trauma, and survivor empowerment.

• Runner-Up in MetLife Nuestras Voces Playwriting Competition for Johanna: Facing Forward, 2015
• Sir John Gielgud Fellowship in Classical Directing from the Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation, 2014-2015
• Most Ambitious Production, The New World - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Judy Awards, 2012
• Person of the Year in NYTheatre.com for directing Summer and Smoke and Five Kinds of Silence, 2008
• NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors, 2001-2003

• Co-Founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons
• Assistant Professor of Theatre at The University of Iowa
• Associate Artist at Boundless Theatre Company
• Associate Artist in the Patriot Program at Merrimack Repertory Theatre
• Usual Suspect of New York Theatre Workshop
• Member of Dramatists Guild
• Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers
• Member of The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures
• Writer for HowlRound, A Journal for the Theater Commons

Professional Productions Directed

Academic Productions Directed