Interview: José Rivera and YOUR NAME MEANS DREAM at NJ Rep

Academy Award nominee José Rivera brings his new play Your Name Means Dream to New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) for a limited run from October 31st to November 24th.  Rivera also directs the show.  His play examines how we live, die, and form our sense of self in a world that’s increasingly saturated with technology.

In the story, Aislin is getting older, and suffers the inevitable indignities of being human — and hates technology. Stacy, her caregiver, is perfectly toned, doesn’t age, and is utterly in control — because she’s an AI robot. And there’s a new algorithm out there called AOS or Approximation of Soul. Does Stacy have it?

Broadwayworld had the pleasure of interviewing José Rivera about his career and the upcoming show at NJ Rep.

Rivera is a playwright and the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Academy Award for the movie, "The Motorcycle Diaries." He has won two Obie Awards for playwriting, a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Grant, a Fulbright Arts Fellowship in Playwriting, a Whiting Award, a McKnight Fellowship, the 2005 Norman Lear Writing Award, a 2005 Impact Award and a Berilla Kerr Playwriting Award.

Can you tell us a little about your journey to become a writer?  We'd love to know how it all started for you.

It started around the kitchen table when I was growing up.  My family never owned books but they were natural storytellers, especially my mom and grandparents.  I think I learned everything I needed to know about stories by listening to their passionate ghost stories and love stories.  I high school my drama teacher gave me "The Glass Menagerie" to read -- and I was hooked for life on playwriting.  I wanted to make things as beautiful as that Williams play.  I started writing plays in high school and never stopped.

Who are a few of the people who have supported and mentored your career?

In theatre my first mentors were Jack Gelber, the playwright, who directed my very first production in 1983, "The House of Ramon Iglesia."  Curt Dempster, who produced the play at Ensemble Studio Theatre, was also a great mentor.  In television my mentor was Norman Lear, who gave me my first job in television in 1983.  In film my mentor was the great Brazilian director Walter Salles, who directed "The Motorcycle Diaries."  Though not directly mentors, I was deeply inspired by Gabriel García Márquez and Sam Shepard. 

Congrats on your enormous successes and accolades.  What piece of advice can you share with people hoping to be a part of the entertainment industry?

Be patient.  Don't cut corners.  Don't rush the work.  Stay on good terms with everyone you work with.  Be disciplined and practice your art every day.  Know the literature inside and out.  Realize that you'll never know it all and that you're in a lifelong apprenticeship.   Save your money!

What inspired you to write the upcoming NJ Rep show, Your Name Means Dream?

I was obsessed with aging (I'm in my 60s) and with AI, which was beginning to explode 5 years ago when I started the play.  I was wondering what it would be like to have no human contact as an older person and have to rely on machinery for all my needs.  Would it be heaven or hell?  Writing this play was my way of dealing with this unknown fear.

This show has a very unique theme.  Why do you think it is so timely?

We are all in the thralls of his technological revolution that will impact every phase of our lives -- AI is the tip of the spear.  And it's already here and we need to know how to adapt. 

We know that you are both the writer and the director of the show.  What are some of the challenges of this dual role?

The biggest challenge is remaining objective about the play.  I try to be as critical of the writing as I would expect any director to be. 

How do you like working with NJ Rep?

Great  place to work.  The people are generous, talented, collaborative, and fun to work with.  I doesn't feel like working at an institution, but like working within a family. 

(Photo Credit: Andrea Phox)

Can you tell us a little about the cast and creative team that is bringing your show to the Long Branch stage?

Years ago I wrote this play for two of my favorite actors, Sara Koviak and Anne O'Sullivan.  I really wanted to tap into their unique strengths as performers -- and to give them exciting challenges.  Together we developed the play over numerous readings and workshops.  The play had it's world premiere, with this cast, last summer at Contemporary American Theatre Festival.  I directed the production.  When NJ Rep approached me for a production they were happy to keep the original team intact.  The design team at the Rep is a collection of their resident designers.  They were all new to me and the actors but we've turned into a strong creative team together. 

Please share with our readers some of your future plans!

There are several upcoming productions of the play -- at Theatre J in Washington D.C., at Theatreworks in Hartford, CT, and  at Luna Stages in NJ.  We're working on getting the play into a NY theatre (any commercial producers out there?).  For Sony I'm writing a re-make of the 1980s film "La Bamba."  Early next year I'll be starting work on a baseball movie produced by Lin-Manual Miranda.  In the next year Sara and I will be workshopping a new play called "A Lunar Rhapsody."   My adaptation of the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" will premiere on Netflix this December.

New Jersey Repertory Company is located at 179 Broadway, Long Branch, New Jersey, 07740. The theatre entrance is in the rear with plenty of free parking available. Tickets for Your Name Means Dream and upcoming productions are on sale at www.njrep.org or by calling 732.229.3166.

Photo Credit: Headshot-Lela Edgar 

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