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Sandra Rivera

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Sandra Rivera
Born
Teodosia Rivera Robles

(1935-03-26)March 26, 1935
DiedOctober 26, 2021(2021-10-26) (aged 86)
NationalityPuerto Rican
Other namesSandra Rivera Robles y Teodosia Sandra Rivera Robles
Education

Gene Frankel Studio (1968) The New Actors Workshop - Mike Nichols (1999)

Occupation(s)Actress, producer and director
Years active1950-2015
Spouses
  • Carlos Rodríguez Orama (married 1956-1968)
  • Xavier Cifré Tormos (married 1975-1997)
Children
  • Edmundo H. Rodríguez Rivera
  • Gilberto A. Rodríguez Rivera
  • Sandra Teres Rodríguez Rivera
Parents
  • Francisco Rivera
  • Isabel Robles
Awards
  • Premio Agüeybaná for Theater Producer of the Year 1973-1974
  • Alejandro Tapia y Rivera Award for Best Theater Actress - 1984
  • ACE Awards NY for Producer - Best Documentary - 1980
  • Instituto de Puerto Rico in New York Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as an actress and producer in the Theater - 2003
  • Puerto Rico's House and Senate resolutions recognizing her lifetime achievements in the arts in 1994, 2003, 2004, and 2010

Sandra Rivera (March 26, 1935 – October 26, 2021) was a Puerto Rican actress, theater, television and film producer, director and writer.[1] For 56 years she was also the artistic director of La Comedia Puertorriqueña,[2] one of the island's leading theater companies founded by her in 1965.

Early life and education

[edit]

Sandra was born Teodosia Rivera Robles on March 26, 1935 in Fajardo, a town on Puerto Rico's east coast, to Francisco Rivera De Santiago, a grocery wholesaler and Isabel Robles De Santiago, homemaker. She was the fifth of seven children after siblings Flor de María, Santiago, Genoveva and Julio and followed by Olga and Alfredo.

Her love for the arts was evident at an early age. While attending elementary school, Sandra's dreams of becoming an actress were fueled by watching musical comedies at Fajardo's only movie theater and by reading about Eleonora Duse and Sarah Bernhardt, actresses who ran their own theater companies and inspired the young girl to do the same. Although her parents were reluctant to have a future actress in the family, it wasn't a complete surprise to them since Sandra's grandfather was an accomplished singing guitarist and her older cousins were professional dancers as well as formally trained pianists.

At the age of 13, Sandra, her parents and two younger siblings relocated to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Here, Sandra attended George Washington High School combining her studies with theater training at The Ornato Studios of The Modern Theater. As a teenager, she worked in Spanish language productions staged by companies of the nascent Hispanic theater movement of New York, often performed at the Church of San Sebastian and at the Belmont and Master Institute theaters.

After graduating in 1953, she was accepted at The University of Puerto Rico's prestigious Department of Drama (Universidad de Puerto Rico), modeled after the Yale School of Drama, presently known as the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. During her studies at the University of Puerto Rico, she performed in plays by Calderón de La Barca, Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Molière, Maeterlinck, Lorca, Tennessee Williams, Salacrou, Anouilh and Puerto Rican playwrights. In addition to performing in classical and contemporary works, she studied ballet under Madame Herta Von Brauer.

The 1950s are considered by many to be the Golden Age of the University of Puerto Rico's Teatro Universitario. It trained and created the next generation of the country's theater, television, and film professionals. Sandra shared the stage with remarkable talents such as Braulio Castillo, Samuel Molina, Elín Ortiz, Luis Rafael Sánchez, David Ortiz Angleró, Marcos Betancourt, and three exceptional young actresses that would become her best friends for life: Velda González, Elga Avilés, and Myrna Vázquez.

Sandra Rivera as Nise in The Lady Simpleton, 1954

Still an undergraduate student, she made her television debut in Teleteatro Telemundo's TV adaptation of The House Of Bernarda Alba alongside established leading ladies of the national stage like Mona Marti, Iris Martínez, Marta Romero, Gladys Aguayo and Luz Odilia Font.

In her senior year she directed The Furious Sphinx by Spanish dramatist Juan Germán Schroeder, also taking over the role of Ana at the last minute when the leading actress fell ill. Upon completion of her B.A degree, she was awarded The University Of Puerto Rico's Presidential Scholarship to continue graduate studies abroad. Sandra submitted an application to the Accademia Nazionale D'Arte Drammatica Silvio d'Amicco in Rome because of her interest in Italian neorealism style. She also applied to The Pasadena Playhouse College of Theater Arts as her second choice, choosing to study at the California school in the end "because they replied first".

Sandra entered the Pasadena Playhouse in the fall of 1956. At the renowned school venue, she trained and performed alongside fellow students Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman and Henry Darrow. In 1958 Sandra received a master's degree in theater arts, also studying film and television production.[3] She returned to Puerto Rico in 1961, where she continued to work in theater and television shows and soap operas.

In 1965, together with Carlos Marichal and Rafael Acevedo, she founded her own theater company, La Comedia Puertorriqueña inspired by La Comedie Française, the oldest active theatre company in the world. For this new enterprise she produced and later starred in a significant number of world theater plays. The company's first season opened with Five Finger Exercise by Peter Shaffer followed by Champagne Complex by Leslie Stevens and later on, Federico García Lorca's Yerma, with her in the leading role.

From 1966 onwards, she was invited by the Performing Arts Division of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture as a producer for its yearly International theater festivals. Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Faulkner's Requiem For A Nun, Terence Rattigan's The Prince and The Chorus Girl and Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie were some of her highly acclaimed productions which also garnered rave reviews for her performances.

Sandra Rivera (Anna) and Rolando Barral (Mat) in Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie", 1972
Sandra Rivera accepting the Agüeybaná Award for Theater Producer of the Year in 1974

In the early 70's she anchored Women In The News, her own segment on the WKBM-TV morning news show as well as Sandra y su Matinée[4] during which she presented movies and interviewed leading personalities in the world of politics, art, music, fashion and culture.

New York once more

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Searching for new career opportunities, Sandra established herself in New York for a second stint from 1974 to 1982. While in the Big Apple, she taught at Fordham University and The City University of NY. She worked as a television producer for the show Infinity Factory on PBS and as a documentary producer for Rede Globo International TV. As an actress, she produced and played Juana in Dead Season staged at the Museum Of Natural History Auditorium (now LeFrak Theater). She later worked with the Hudson Theater and Latin American Theater Ensemble.

Sandra with director Pablo Cabrera during the dress rehearsal for Death Shall Not Enter The Palace at the PRTT in 1981.

She starred in the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater bilingual productions of The Oxcart and the world premiere of René Marqués play Death Shall Not Enter The Palace, which marked the opening of PRTT's new theater on Broadway.

Back home

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In 1981, she was offered a co-leading role in one Telemundo's prime time soaps, which prompted her move back to the island and her return to work in national television and the Puerto Rican stage.

From this period onwards, Sandra worked practically non-stop, delivering excellent performances in a variety of roles, best among them as M'Lynn Eatenton in Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias, Queen Joanna The Mad Of Castile in The Madness of Love, and as Genoveva, a grandmother in her late eighties in Trees Die Standing by Alejandro Casona. For her riveting performance in the latter she was awarded the 1984 Alejandro Tapia y Rivera award for best actress, Puerto Rican theatre's most prestigious honor.

The new century

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Two of Sandra's proudest achievements as actress and producer was her theater company's Puerto Rican staging of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. Starring eight of Puerto Rico's grand dames of the stage, it broke attendance records as the play ran for ten consecutive weeks in San Juan. It then toured the island for an entire year, finally closing back in the capital in December 2002.

(from left to right) Yamaris Latorre, Sandra Rivera, Idalia Pérez Garay, Nydia Caro, Sara Jarque, Marian Pabón, Suzette Bacó and Cristina Soler. Opening night of The Vagina Monologues on December 7, 2001

The other one was the 2010 Spanish language world premiere of José Rivera's Boleros For The Disenchanted, at the Francisco Arriví Theater with the author in attendance.

That same year the country's International Theatre Festival was dedicated in her honor, recognizing her more than 50-year career on the stage.

In her later years, the actress added film production to her résumé, helming the movies La fuga (2010), Huey, Dewey, Louie And Three Girls In Pink (2013) and the TV movie adaptation of the play Actresses (2011).

She retired from the stage in 2013 after her last performance in the role of Gingy, in Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the San Juan Performing Arts Center (Centro de Bellas Artes).

In 2015 she suffered a debilitating stroke which left her paralized on one side and affected her speech. Nonetheless, she continued overseeing all aspects of her beloved theatre company as artistic director until her death in 2021. She was mourned as one of Puerto Rico's national treasures.

Personal life

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Sandra married Carlos Rodríguez Orama in Fort Ord, California on December 23, 1956. They were divorced on June 21, 1968. The couple had three children, Edmundo Héctor, (Film Director) Gilberto Adrián (Writer) and Sandra Teres (Actress and Producer).

In 1975 she married theater producer Xavier Cifré Tormos in New York City. After 22 years the marriage ended in divorce.

List of her work in Theater

[edit]
List of her work as actress and producer in theater
Year Title Role Place Notes
1950 Una luz entre dos sombras by Rolando Barrera Mother Master's Auditorium, New York Actress
1951 Diez años de amor by Rolando Barrera Daughter Teatro Gala, New York Actress
1952 The Student's Sweetheart by Isabel Cuchí Coll Nina New York University Actress
1953 The Bonds of Interest by Jacinto Benavente Silvia New York Belmont Theatre Actress
1953 The Oxcart by René Marqués Lidia Hunts Point Palace, New York Actress
1953 Le Marguerite by Armand Salacrou Marguerite Teatro Universitario Actress
1954 The Lady Simpleton by Lope de Vega Nise Teatro Universitario Actress
1954 The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere Béline Teatro Universitario Actress
1954 The Life I Gave You by Luigi Pirandello Isabel Teatro Universitario Actress
1954 The Oxcart by René Marqués Lidia Ateneo Puertorriqueño Actress
1955 The Great Theater Of The World by Pedro Calderón de la Barca Discretion Teatro Universitario Actress
1955 The Comedy Of Errors by Shakespeare Luciana Teatro Universitario Actress
1955 The Lark by Jean Anouilh Queen Yolande Teatro Universitario Actress
1955 The Blind by Maurice Maeterlinck Mad blind woman Teatro Universitario Actress
1955 Summer And Smoke by Tennessee Williams Mrs. Winemiller Teatro Universitario Actress
1955 If Five Years Come To Pass by García Lorca The Bride Teatro Universitario Actress
1956 Moon Jellyfish In The Bay by Francisco Arriví Tina Teatro Universitario Actress
1956 Antigone by Sophocles Antigone Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1956 The View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller Beatrice Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1956 The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice Mrs. Zero Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1957 The Wild Duck by Ibsen Gina Ekdal Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1957 Hamlet by Shakespeare Gertrude Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1957 Les Précieuses Ridicules by Molière Magdelon Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1958 The School for Scandal by Sheridan Lady Sneerwell Pasadena Playhouse Actress
1958 Enemies Don't Send Flowers by Pedro Bloch Silvia Hotel Alexandria The Palm Court Actress
1961 The Galloping Hero by Nemesio Canales Amelia Touring company, Puerto Rico Actress
1964 The Setting Suns by René Marqués Hortense Teatro de Calatrava Salamanca, Spain Actress
1965 Five Finger Exercise by Peter Shaffer - Teatro Salvador Brau Santurce, Puerto Rico Producer
1965 Champagne Complex by Leslie Stevens - Teatro Salvador Brau Santurce, Puerto Rico Producer
1965 Yerma by Federico García Lorca Yerma Teatro del Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico Actress
1966 The Fox and The Grapes by Guilherme Figueiredo - Teatro Tapia Producer
1966 Cat On a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams Maggie Teatro Tapia Actress
1967 To Clothe The Naked by Luigi Pirandello Ersilia Drei Teatro Tapia Actress
1968 My Elf Friend by Flavia Lugo Marichal Marina Touring company, Puerto Rico Actress
1968 Requiem For A Nun by William Faulkner Temple Stevens Teatro Tapia Actress
1968 Sirena by Francisco Arriví Cambucha Touring company, Puerto Rico Actress
1969 Oh Dad, Poor dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad by Arthur Kopit Rosalie Teatro Tapia Actress
1970 You and Me Makes Three by Enrique Jardiel Poncela - Teatro Tapia Producer
1971 The Prince and The Showgirl by Terence Rattigan Mary Morgan Teatro Tapia Actress
1972 Trees Die Standing by Alejandro Casona Isabel Teatro Tapia Actress
1972 Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill Anna Christie Teatro Tapia Actress
1972 Luv by Murray Schisgal Ellen Teatro Tapia Actress
1973 The Fox and The Grapes by Guilherme Figueiredo Cleia Teatro Tapia Actress
1975 Tiempo Muerto by Manuel Méndez Ballester Juana Museum of National History, New York Actress
1976 Where's My Little Gloria? by Hector Troy Marifé Maldonado Hudson Theater, New York Actress
1977 The Oxcart by René Marqués Doña Gabriela Puerto Rican Traveling Theater Actress
1980 The Harlot of The Cave by Mario Peña The Harlot Latin American Theater Ensemble at El Portón Actress
1981 Death Shall Not Enter The Palace by René Marqués Doña Isabel Puerto Rican Traveling Theater Actress
1981 The Ball by Edgar Neville Adela Teatro Tapia Actress
1982 OK by Isaac Chocrón Mina Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
1984 The Baby Stroller by Norberto Aroldi Rosa Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
1984 Trees Die Standing by Alejandro Casona Genoveva Teatro Tapia Actress
1985 You and Me Makes Three by Enrique Jardiel Poncela Manolita Teatro Tapia Actress
1986 Love Madness by Tamayo y Baus Joanna of Castile Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
1988 The Quadroon by Alejandro Tapia y Rivera The Countess Teatro Tapia Actress
1989 Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling M'Lynn Eatenton Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
1989 The Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon Evy Meara Teatro Tapia Actress
1990 The Quadroon by Alejandro Tapia y Rivera The Countess Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
1991 Las amantes pasan el año nuevo solas by Roberto Ramos Perea Eva Teatro Tapia Actress
1992 La sirena varada by Alejandro Casona - Teatro Tapia Producer
1994 The House Must Be Dismantled by Sebastián Junyent Laura Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
1995 Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang Charlotte Teatro Yagüez Actress
1996 Love Letters by A.R. Gurney Melissa Channing Gardner Touring company, Puerto Rico Actress
1999 Actresses by Josep M. Benet i Jornet Gloria Marc Teatro Tapia Actress
2000 The Dance of Death by August Strindberg Alice Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
2001 Cloud Tectonics by José Rivera - Centro de Bellas Artes Producer
2001 The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler Ensemble/Herself Centro de Bellas Artes Actress/Producer
2003 Proof by David Auburn - Centro de Bellas Artes Producer
2010 Boleros for the Disenchanted by José Rivera Milla/Flora Teatro Francisco Arriví Actress
2011 Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl - Teatro Victoria Espinosa Producer
2011 Señora Carrar's Rifles by Bertolt Brecht Sra. Pérez Teatro Francisco Arriví Actress
2013 Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron Gingy Centro de Bellas Artes Actress
2015 Red by John Logan - Centro de Bellas Artes Producer

List of her work as a Director

[edit]
List of her work as a director in theater
Year Title Place Notes
1956 The Furious Sphinx by Juan Germán Schroeder Teatro Universitario Director
1957 Biography by S. N. Behrman Pasadena Playhouse Director
1957 The Shoemaker's Holiday by Thomas Dekker Pasadena Playhouse Director
1958 Death Takes A Holiday by Alberto Casella Pasadena Playhouse Director
1958 The Trojan Women by Euripides Pasadena Playhouse Director
1958 Yerma by Federico García Lorca Pasadena Playhouse Director
1961 The House Without A Clock by René Marqués Ateneo Puertorriqueño Director
1961 La familia de Justo Malgenio by Isabel Cuchí Coll Teatro Tapia Director
1962 The Farce of Master Pierre Patelin by Anonymous UHS Director
1986 Tú, mi pasión by Franciso Arriví Centro de Bellas Artes Director
2007 Tú, mi pasión by Franciso Arriví Teatro Francisco Arriví Director

List of her work in Television

[edit]
List of her work as an actress and host in television
Year Title Role Network Notes
1956 Aquella extraña mujer - Telemundo Soap opera Actress
1956 Contraespionaje - Telemundo TV series Actress
1962 La otra orilla del río Dulce Telemundo Soap opera Actress
1964 Concierto de amor Miriam Telemundo Soap opera Actress
1971 - 1974 Sandra y su matinée / Sandra y su matinal - WKBM-TV Host
1971 - 1974 Mujeres en las noticias - WKBM-TV Anchor
1971 - 1974 Vitrina del hogar - WRIK-TV Host
1981 Maria Eugenia[5] Yadira Telemundo Soap opera Actress
1984 ¿De qué color es el amor? Clotilde Telemundo Soap opera Actress
1986 La muerte de un viajante by Arthur Miller Linda Loman WAPA-TV Actress
1986 Preciosa Migdalia Telemundo Soap opera Actress
1986 La cárcel de todos - WRIK-TV Miniseries Actress
1987 Plaga o destino - WAPA-TV Miniseries Actress
1988 Tormento Marcelina WAPA-TV Soap opera Actress
1989 El papá de mi papá The wife/The grandma WAPA-TV Sitcom Actress

List of her work in Film

[edit]
List of her work as an actress and producer in film
Year Title Role Notes
1964 El hombre esperado Felicia Puerto Rican Division of Community Education DIVEDCO
1980 A Tribute to Pedro Flores - Producer TV Globo Internacional TVGI
1983 Papo Mami Ibis Filmworks, New York
1992 Chavez Ravine Ensemble Universal Pictures
1996 Una noche en Hollywood - Producer Pasadena Films
2009 Desamores Lucía de Leyva Propaganda PR
2010 La fuga - Producer Pasadena Films
2013 Huey, Dewey, Louie And Three Girls In Pink[6] - Producer Pasadena Films

References

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  1. ^ Santiago, Javier; Feliciano, Enrique. "Sandra Rivera". Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular.
  2. ^ "About La Comedia Puertorriqueña". La Comedia Puertorriqueña.
  3. ^ Rojas Daporta, Malen. "Obtiene EU Master en Arte Dramática; atra "Mister". Global Resources Network. El Mundo.
  4. ^ "Sandra y su Matinal". East View Global Press Archive. El Mundo: diario de la mañana.
  5. ^ "María Eugenia". IMDB.
  6. ^ "Hugo, Paco, Luis y tres chicas de rosa". IMDB.