Sandra Rivera

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

Early life and education

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 City, 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, 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 other famous actors such as Braulio Castillo, Samuel Molina, Elín Ortiz, Luis Rafael Sánchez, David Ortiz Angleró, Marcos Betancourt, as well as another three young actresses that would become her best friends for life: Velda González, Elga Avilés, and Myrna Vázquez.

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. 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 the Comédie-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.

In the early 1970s she anchored Women In The News, her own segment on the WKBM-TV morning news show as well as Sandra y su Matinée during which she presented movies and interviewed leading personalities in the world of politics, art, music, fashion and culture.

New York once more

Searching for new career opportunities, Sandra established herself in New York City for a second stint from 1974 to 1982. While in the Big Apple, she taught at Fordham University and the City University of New York. 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 Theatre). She later worked with the Hudson Theatre and Latin American Theatre Ensemble. 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

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

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.

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 paralyzed 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

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 +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 CityActress 1951 Diez años de amor by Rolando Barrera DaughterTeatro Gala, New YorkActress 1952 The Student's Sweetheart by Isabel Cuchí Coll NinaNew York UniversityActress 1953 The Bonds of Interest by Jacinto Benavente Silvia New York Belmont TheatreActress 1953 The Oxcart by René Marqués Lidia Hunts Point Palace, New York CityActress 1953 Le Marguerite by Armand Salacrou MargueriteTeatro UniversitarioActress 1954 The Lady Simpleton by Lope de Vega NiseTeatro UniversitarioActress 1954 The Imaginary Invalid by Molière BélineTeatro UniversitarioActress 1954 The Life I Gave You by Luigi Pirandello IsabelTeatro UniversitarioActress 1954 The Oxcart by René Marqués Lidia Ateneo PuertorriqueñoActress 1955 The Great Theater Of The World by Pedro Calderón de la Barca DiscretionTeatro UniversitarioActress 1955 The Comedy Of Errors by Shakespeare LucianaTeatro UniversitarioActress 1955 The Lark by Jean Anouilh Queen YolandeTeatro UniversitarioActress 1955 The Blind by Maurice Maeterlinck Mad blind womanTeatro UniversitarioActress 1955 Summer And Smoke by Tennessee Williams Mrs. Winemiller Teatro UniversitarioActress 1955 If Five Years Come To Pass by García Lorca The BrideTeatro UniversitarioActress 1956 Moon Jellyfish In The Bay by Francisco Arriví TinaTeatro UniversitarioActress 1956 Antigone by Sophocles AntigonePasadena PlayhouseActress 1956 The View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller Beatrice Pasadena PlayhouseActress 1956 The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice Mrs. Zero Pasadena PlayhouseActress 1957 The Wild Duck by Ibsen Gina Ekdal Pasadena PlayhouseActress 1957 Hamlet by Shakespeare Gertrude Pasadena PlayhouseActress 1957 Les Précieuses Ridicules by Molière Magdelon Pasadena PlayhouseActress 1958 The School for Scandal by Sheridan Lady Sneerwell Pasadena PlayhouseActress 1958 Enemies Don't Send Flowers by Pedro Bloch Silvia Hotel Alexandria The Palm CourtActress 1961 The Galloping Hero by Nemesio Canales Amelia Touring company, Puerto RicoActress 1964 The Setting Suns by René Marqués Hortense Teatro de Calatrava Salamanca, SpainActress 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 YermaTeatro del Colegio de Abogados de Puerto RicoActress 1966 The Fox and the Grapes by Guilherme Figueiredo -Teatro Tapia Producer 1966 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams MaggieTeatro TapiaActress 1967 To Clothe the Naked by Luigi Pirandello Ersilia DreiTeatro TapiaActress 1968 My Elf Friend by Flavia Lugo Marichal Marina Touring company, Puerto RicoActress 1968 Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner Temple StevensTeatro TapiaActress 1968 Sirena by Francisco Arriví Cambucha Touring company, Puerto RicoActress 1969 Oh Dad, Poor dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad by Arthur Kopit RosalieTeatro TapiaActress 1970 You and Me Makes Three by Enrique Jardiel Poncela -Teatro TapiaProducer 1971 The Prince and the Showgirl by Terence Rattigan Mary MorganTeatro TapiaActress 1972 Trees Die Standing by Alejandro Casona IsabelTeatro TapiaActress1972 Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill Anna Christie Teatro TapiaActress 1972 Luv by Murray Schisgal EllenTeatro TapiaActress 1973 The Fox and The Grapes by Guilherme Figueiredo CleiaTeatro TapiaActress 1975 Tiempo Muerto by Manuel Méndez Ballester JuanaMuseum of National History, New York CityActress 1976 Where's My Little Gloria? by Hector Troy Marifé Maldonado Hudson Theater, New York CityActress 1977 The Oxcart by René Marqués Doña GabrielaPuerto Rican Traveling Theater Actress 1980 The Harlot of The Cave by Mario Peña The Harlot Latin American Theater Ensemble at El PortónActress 1981 Death Shall Not Enter the Palace by René Marqués Doña IsabelPuerto Rican Traveling TheaterActress 1981 The Ball by Edgar Neville AdelaTeatro TapiaActress 1982 OK by Isaac Chocrón Mina Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 1984 The Baby Stroller by Norberto Aroldi Rosa Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 1984 Trees Die Standing by Alejandro Casona Genoveva Teatro TapiaActress 1985 You and Me Makes Three by Enrique Jardiel Poncela ManolitaTeatro TapiaActress 1986 Love Madness by Tamayo y Baus Joanna of Castile Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 1988 The Quadroon by Alejandro Tapia y Rivera The Countess Teatro TapiaActress 1989 Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling M'Lynn Eatenton Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 1989 The Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon Evy Meara Teatro TapiaActress 1990 The Quadroon by Alejandro Tapia y Rivera The Countess Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 1991 Las amantes pasan el año nuevo solas by Roberto Ramos Perea Eva Teatro TapiaActress 1992 La sirena varada by Alejandro Casona - Teatro Tapia Producer 1994The House Must Be Dismantled by Sebastián Junyent Laura Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 1995 Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang Charlotte Teatro YagüezActress 1996 Love Letters by A. R. Gurney Melissa Channing Gardner Touring company, Puerto RicoActress 1999 Actresses by Josep M. Benet i Jornet Gloria Marc Teatro TapiaActress 2000 The Dance of Death by August Strindberg Alice Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 2001 Cloud Tectonics by José Rivera - Centro de Bellas Artes Producer 2001 The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler Ensemble/Herself Centro de Bellas ArtesActress/Producer 2003 Proof by David Auburn - Centro de Bellas Artes Producer 2010 Boleros for the Disenchanted by José Rivera Milla/Flora Teatro Francisco ArrivíActress 2011 Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl - Teatro Victoria Espinosa Producer 2011 Señora Carrar's Rifles by Bertolt Brecht Sra. Pérez Teatro Francisco ArrivíActress 2013 Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron Gingy Centro de Bellas ArtesActress 2015 Red by John Logan - Centro de Bellas Artes Producer

List of her work as a director +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 PlayhouseDirector 1958 Death Takes A Holiday by Alberto Casella Pasadena PlayhouseDirector 1958 The Trojan Women by Euripides Pasadena PlayhouseDirector 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 +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 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 +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 - Producer Pasadena Films