Adoration of the Old Woman
Price range: $15.00 through $15.95
Description
Set against the backdrop of Puerto Rico's struggle with the issue of statehood, a young woman, who speaks no Spanish, moves in with her 105-year-old great grandmother who speaks no English. Both women deal with problems of love — the younger with two new suitors and the older with the ghost of her husband's mistress.
Production Info
Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
Press Quotes
“… There is more — much, much more — to José Rivera’s new play, ADORATION OF THE OLD WOMAN. But the play’s internal engine — its life and humor and earthiness — is driven by the shockingly profane, deeply poetic words of this spiritual old woman. Doña Belen may be the most fascinating character in Rivera’s fertile oeuvre … his plays are infused with the flavor we’ve come to associate with Latin writing — the rich imagery and lyricism of Federico García Lorca, the earthy sensuality and surrealism of Gabriel García Márquez. But Rivera’s concerns are universal. His characters may be brown-skinned, but his subject is the human soul. ADORATION OF THE OLD WOMAN is Rivera’s most overtly political play yet. It’s a work that combines Rivera’s heightened sense of language and visually rich dreamscapes with a deeply felt probing of Puerto Rican independence. It’s part ghost story, part political debate. It’s magical realism meets a Puerto Rican Crossfire … if Rivera never really seems to make his — the decision about Puerto Rican self-determination — he has left us with the evidence we need to make one for ourselves. And in that he fulfills what the physician-turned-playwright Anton Chekov said is the writer’s chief responsibility: not providing a cure, but correctly diagnosing the problem.” —Joel Beers, Orange County Weekly
Author
José RiveraJosé Rivera’s full-length plays have been seen nationally and internationally and translated into a dozen languages. Obie Award–winners MARISOL And REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT, both produced by The Public Theatre, NY, are taught around the country, as well as his essay “36 Assumptions about Playwriting." World premieres include THE HOUSE OF RAMON IGLESIA (Ensemble Studio Theatre), THE PROMISE (Los Angeles Theatre Center), EACH DAY DIES WITH SLEEP (Circle Rep/Berkeley Rep), CLOUD TECTONICS (Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville), MARICELA DE LA LUZ LIGHTS THE WORLD (La Jolla Playhouse), GIANTS HAVE US IN THEIR BOOKS (Magic Theatre), SUEÑO (Hartford Stage Company), SONNETS FOR AN OLD CENTURY (Greenway Arts Alliance), BOLEROS FOR THE DISENCHANTED (Yale Rep), SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS (Public Theatre), MASSACRE (SING TO YOUR CHILDREN) (Goodman Theatre), BRAINPEOPLE (ACT/San Francisco), ADORATION OF THE OLD WOMAN (La Jolla Playhouse), ANOTHER WORD FOR BEAUTY (Goodman Theatre), THE MAIDS (INTAR), THE KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN (Menier Chocolate Factory, London), THE LOVESONG (IMPERFECT) (14th Street Y, directed by the author), YOUR NAME MEANS DREAM (Contemporary American Theatre Festival, directed by the author), THE HOURS ARE FEMININE (INTAR, directed by the author, winner 2024 HOLA Best Production Award). His latest play A LUNAR RHAPSODY was workshopped at Duke U., Northwestern U., DePauw U., and Santa Fe Playhouse, each co-directed (with Sara Koviak) by the author. The screenplay for Rivera’s first produced movie, “The Motorcycle Diaries” (Walter Salles, director) was nominated for 2005 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar — making Rivera the first Puerto Rican writer so honored. Other honors include a BAFTA, a Writers Guild Award, a Goya Award (Spain), and Argentina’s top screenwriting prize. His film “On the Road” (Francis Ford Coppola, producer, Walter Salles, director) premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and “Trade” (Lionsgate Pictures) was the first film to premiere at the United Nations. Other films include “The 33” and “Letters to Juliet.” Rivera co-created and produced “Eerie, Indiana,” (NBC) and was a consultant and staff writer on “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” (Showtime) 2019. Rivera wrote and directed the award-winning short films “The Fall of a Sparrow” and “The Civet,” seen at film festivals around the country. Rivera is a recipient of a Fulbright Arts Fellowship, a Whiting Foundation Award, a McKnight Fellowship, a 2005 Impact Award, and was a playwright-in-residence at the Royal Court Theatre, London. In 1989 he studied with Gabriel García Márquez at the Sundance Institute. He has served on the boards of PEN West, TCG, and Sundance, was a Creative Advisor at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in Utah, Jordan, and India, and currently teaches writing at HB Studio, New York. Most recently, he was head writer and executive producer of the Netflix series based on One Hundred Years of Solitude (winner “Best Series,” 2025 Premios Platino), which the London Telegraph called “a spellbinding adaptation of an unfilmable novel.”
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 11/1/2010 |
| Pages | 80 |
| ISBN | 9780881454307 |
Special Notes
Originally produced by La Jolla Playhouse
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com
