Guest host Victoria graces the airwaves by interviewing the renowned playwright José Rivera, Oscar nominated screenwriter of the film Motorcycle Diaries. Rivera offers up another look at the legendary revolutionary with School of the Americas, presented by Teatro Visión and running January 24-February 10, 2008 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San José. Directed by Wilma Bonet. She’ll also be joined by Teatro Vision’s artistic director, Elisa Alvarado.
Elisa Marina Alvarado is a founding member and Artistic Director of the 24 year-old Teatro Visión. As an actress, director and community organizer she has been active in the Chicano movement for over thirty years. Elisa has taught theater for Teatro Visión, San José State University, San Francisco State University and many community organizations. She developed a new works program, Codices , through which Teatro Visión has produced world premiers for plays including Conjunto by Oliver Mayer and Boxcar by Silvia Gonzalez S.
Focusing on the days after his capture and before his murder by U.S-trained agents near the Bolivian town of La Higuera, School of the Americas has been called, “..a drama that carves out a human angle ”by Daily Variety and “..controversial, even incendiary” by NYtheatre. As Che was held in a one-room schoolhouse for two days while the Bolivian and U.S. governments decided his fate, a young village schoolteacher spoke to the revolutionary. Her conversations with Che – based on historical fact – are the heart of the play. For more information, go to www.teatrovision.org