A.C.T. Holds Free Conversation With Jose Rivera 4/18

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its 2008-09 season Koret Visiting Artist Series with a conversation with Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and OBIE Award-winning playwright José Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries, Marisol, and A.C.T.'s Brainpeople), whose Boleros for the Disenchanted will take the A.C.T. stage in May.

Interviewed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff, Rivera will discuss his process as a writer and his work on his award-winning new play, which explores the ineffable dreams of lovers and the darker mysteries of marriage over a period of 40 years, traveling from a Puerto Rican village to America. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The hour-long event is free and open to the public and takes place on the A.C.T. stage on Saturday, April 18, 2009, at 10 a.m. Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. For more information, please visit www.act-sf.org/koret.

"This discussion will be a wonderful and intimate way to encounter the thinking and artistry of one of America's true theatrical masters, José Rivera," says Perloff. "José will talk about his creative process, his views on contemporary theater, his love of magical realism, and his Puerto Rican family, who inspired his gorgeous play Boleros for the Disenchanted. Following upon our sold-out discussions with Tom Stoppard and John Guare, this promises to be a remarkable and illuminating conversation." Perloff directs Boleros for the Disenchanted, which plays at A.C.T. May 7-31, 2009. Tickets are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228, or at www.act-sf.org.

José Rivera, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the author of the OBIE Award-winning Marisol (La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Public Theater); The House of Ramon Iglesias (The Ensemble Studio Theatre); Giants Have Us in Their Books (Magic Theatre); Each Day Dies with Sleep (Circle Repertory Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Sonnets for an Old Century (INTAR Theatre); Sueño (Hartford Stage); Cloud Tectonics (Playwrights Horizons, Goodman Theatre); Maricela de la Luz Lights the World (La Jolla Playhouse); The Promise (The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Center); The Street of the Sun (Mark Taper Forum); Adoration of the Old Woman (La Jolla Playhouse); School of the Americas (The Public Theater, LAByrinth Theater Company); Brainpeople (A.C.T.); Boleros for the Disenchanted (Yale Repertory Theatre); Massacre (Sing to Your Children) (Goodman Theatre); and the OBIE Award-winning References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (South Coast Repertory, The Public Theater). Honors include a Fulbright Arts Fellowship and a Whiting Award, as well as grants from the NEA and Rockefeller Foundation. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles, director) and has written the screenplay for Salles's upcoming film based on Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

As part of a generous partnership with A.C.T., the Koret Foundation has made a three-year commitment to support A.C.T.'s audience programs, including artist panel discussions and A.C.T.'s regularly scheduled Audience Exchange and Prologue discussions. The Koret Visiting Artist Series, in its third season, features exciting talks with acclaimed artists from the American theatrical community, moderated by A.C.T. artistic staff. Held at the American Conservatory Theater before and after select performances throughout the season, the discussions are designed to illuminate the ways in which a theater affects and strengthens a community, the responsibilities of the artist in modern society, and the challenges of the creative process. Visit www.-act-sf.org/koret for more information.

About the Koret Foundation: An entrepreneurial spirit guides Koret in addressing societal challenges and strengthening Bay Area life. Investing in strategic, local solutions, Koret helps to inspire a multiplier effect-encouraging collaborative funding and developing model initiatives. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Koret adds to the region's vitality by promoting educational opportunity, contributing to a diverse cultural landscape, and bolstering organizations that are innovative in their approaches to meeting community needs. With roots in the Jewish community, Koret embraces the community of Israel, especially through Koret Israel Economic Development Funds (KIEDF). Koret believes that economic stability and free market expansion offer the best hope for a prosperous future. At Koret, we understand our responsibility to make an impact-to honor the legacy of our founders, and to find long-lasting solutions that improve people's lives.