Carmen Rivera holds an MA in Playwriting and Latin American Theatre from New York University.   Her play, La Gringa, was part of the OBIE Award Winning Series New Voices in 1996 and has celebrated its 22nd year anniversary in repertory at Repertorio Español.  It is now the longest running Spanish-language play in Off-Broadway history.

Her play La Caída De Rafael Trujillo (The Downfall Of Rafael Trujillo) was produced by Teatro Circulo and received multiple ACE and ATI Award nominations and won 4 ATIs, including Best Production.  She co-wrote, with Cándido Tirado, Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz, (HOLA Award, Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting), which played Off-Broadway at New World Stages and toured Florida, Chicago, Tenerife, Canary Islands and the Centro de Bellas Artes (Center for the Fine Arts) in Puerto Rico.  Other Off-Broadway productions include: La Lupe: My Life, My Destiny (ACE Award – Best Production); Julia de Burgos: Child of Water; To Catch The Lightning (Nomination ACE Award – Best Production); The Next Stop (INTAR / Repertorio Español); Under The Mango Tree (INTAR).    Her play Riding The Bear received Honorable Mention on the Kilroy’s List in 2016. Carmen’s work has also appeared in theatre festivals in New York, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, England, Puerto Rico, and Russia.    

​

Under The Mango Tree was recently published by Steep Spring Stage Rights and will open this summer at Collaborative Theatre Project in Medford Oregon.   
La Gringa was published in both English and Spanish by Samuel French.  Julia De Burgos: Child Of Water, was published by Red Sugar Cane Press.  Betty’s Garage is included in The Women’s Project and Productions: Rowing to America and 16 Other Short Plays.  Carmen is also included in Women Who Make Theatre both published by Smith and Kraus.   Delia’s Race is an included in the anthology, POSITIVE/NEGATIVE – women of color and HIV/AIDS, published by Aunt Lute.  Julia has toured the New York City Public Schools and is included in Nuestro New York, an anthology of Puerto Rican Theatre published by Penguin USA.   Her work can also be found on the online archive, Alexander Street Press.    Carmen has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), ATT On-Stage and New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA).  

Carmen is a Founding Member and Co-Executive Director of E.P.P. (Educational Play Productions), which brings plays, that deal with social issues into the public schools.   She teaches Playwriting at The School for Drama at The New School and is also a Teaching Artist at Manhattan Theatre Club For more information on Carmen, check out www.carmenrivera-writer.com.  For more information on EPP, check out www.educationalplayproductions.com.