References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot and Other Plays

by José Rivera, Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Contributor)

Surrealism, magic realism and expressionism are the hallmarks of Jose Rivera’s influential body of work. This new volume collects the author’s plays written in the past five years, including References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot ("effortlessly melds otherworldly fantasy with gritty realism to make sparks fly onstage."—The Journal News), Sueño (a reworking for Pedro Calderón’s Life is a Dream) and Sonnets for an Old Century, the author’s most recent work, which recently premiered in Los Angeles.

Puerto Rican-born playwright José Rivera plays have been produced all over the world and his work has been translated into seven languages. His best known work includes Marisol and Each Day Dies with Sleep. "Rivera has a messianic mission to replace old and dying creeds with vibrant new visions."—Robert Brustein, New Republic

Also available by José Rivera
Marisol and Other Plays
PB $15.95 1-55936-136-0 • USA

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Magical Realism, Read For School, Drama, Fiction, School

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

José Rivera is a recipient of two Obie Awards for playwriting for Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, which were both produced by The Public Theater in New York. His plays, Cloud Tectonics (Playwrights Horizons and Goodman Theatre), Boleros for the Disenchanted (Yale Repertory Theatre and Goodman Theatre), Sueño (Manhattan Class Company), Sonnets for an Old Century (The Barrow Group), School of the Americas (The Public Theater), Massacre (Sing to Your Children) (Rattlestick and Goodman Theatre), Brainpeople (ACT, San Francisco), Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR) and The House of Ramon Iglesia (Ensemble Studio Theatre), have been produced across the country and around the world. He is currently working on The Last Book of Homer, Scream for the Lost Romantics, and The Gamma Forest. Mr. Rivera’s screenplay for The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 2005. His screenplay based on Jack Kerouac’s On the Road premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was distributed nationally in the winter of 2013. His film Trade was the first film to premiere at the United Nations. Television projects in the works include an untitled HBO pilot, co-written and produced by Tom Hanks, as well as a 10-hour series for HBO tentatively known as Latino Roots. Celestina, based on his play Cloud Tectonics, will mark his debut as a feature film director. He is the writer/director of the short film Lizzy and has recently completed his first novel, Love Makes the City Crumble. His next film project will be a biography of famed baseball player Roberto Clemente for Legendary Films.

Reviews

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time it is truly obvious that it was better that you had lived, at this time, in this world.
The first time you decide every moment of your life should be a work of art.
The first time you die and you breathe again and you speak to the living.
The first time you realize that it all just might have been okay.

Enjoyed References to Salvador Dalí but Sonnets for an Old Century really is something else for me; anything to contemplate mortality I suppose heh

[Will Schmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

References was beautiful! Some of the best poetic dialogue that has continued to capture my curiosity! I loved the surrealist concept, too.

[Marisela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently reading the first play in this anthology: Reference to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot. I swear, the play oozes this sensual energy, as if it was written while the playwright was in love, feverishly in love.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

References to Salvador Dali *** -- Mystical-symbolic-psychedelic works are not an interest of mine. The play, though, is certainly quirky and sensuous.


Sueno **** – The Calderon original is a fascinating play for all the reasons that Calderon never imagined, and it has lived on as a classic for hundreds of years. Rivera does a good job making this old fashioned, melodramatic drama into a viable modern piece, while sticking fairly close to the original.

He does so by making the subplot absurd and humorous. That does take the edge off the ridiculous melodrama of the original. Rivera also plays with the tone of the play, going from bawdy, to tragic, to comedic, to scatological in a few lines. In his 36 Assumptions About Writing Plays, he says to vary the tone. I think a play can have a lot of different tones, but I disagree with changing tone from line to line. It undercuts the seriousness of the other parts.

As I noted, Rivera follows the story pretty closely, almost speech by speech. He adds a prologue, and he exaggerates the violence. At the end, however, he makes some significant changes. I won’t give them away, but he does remove some of the shocking surprises of the original play.

Overall, this is a nice modern version, but I feel the sensuous wonder of the original is lost in the comedic tone.


Sonnets for an Old Century *** -- This is a mildly entertaining series of monologues (presumably from recently dead people) punctuated by unerotic references to sex and the same semi-mystical-symbolic word play that is common in References. Beyond the odd esoteric phrase here and there, the poetry is pretty prosaic.


36 Assumptions About Writing Plays **** -- For the most part, I agree with everything Rivera says. Whereas I agree that a play should have many tones, I don’t want them competing with each other in the same scene. I think scenes should have different tones.

Otherwise, he emphasizes the poetry of drama – the struggle to raise language above natural conversation. Writing is a sensual experience and the play should excite all the senses.

Overall, I find his assumptions to be dead on. This is something I’ll refer to often myself.

[Arden McHugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I didn't discuss this in class I would have no idea what was happening. BUT, I'm glad I did cuz I really liked it once I understood it.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A magical realistic exploration on how war effects all facets of life.

[alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot" is a poetic treasure of a play. I am deeply in love with most of José Rivera's works, and this one was no exception.

[Sarah McCauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot: 4 stars
Sueno: 3 stars
Sonnets for an Old Century: 4 stars
36 Assumptions About Writing Plays: 5 stars

[mali · Rating 5 out of 5]

maybe one of the most beautiful nuanced plays i’ve ever read

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title play was assigned for my 21st Century American Drama class. I could tell from the first few pages that I would loathe it - it was abstract, baffling, did that frustrating "inanimate object as character" thing.

So I read it, hated it; there were a few poetic passages that I found intriguing (but ultimately irritating - write poetry or plays, not some combination of the two!), but the conflict was trite: dissatisfied housewife, husband that values his job over home. War causes emotional turmoil. SHOCKING!

But true to a resolution I made at the beginning of this class, I decided I'd read the whole book in order to review it on Goodreads properly. GOD, am I glad I did.

The second play, Sueño, was a reworking of Calderon de la Barca's seventeenth-century play. It was modernized perfectly; the story remains the same (the only clue to the play's antiquity) but the language is sharp and funny. I bet Calderon never imagined his characters would be saying the word friggin'.

Most glorious of all, though, was Sonnets of an Old Century - an exquisite series of touching, beautiful monologues from the afterlife. So, so good, and so different from References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot; where one was surreal and intentionally obtuse, the other was realistic and touching.

Rivera concludes with a list of 36 assumptions he makes when writing a play. It is short, easy to read, and interesting and helpful for those interested in the art of play-crafting.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the experimental world at work in this play. The Cat and the Coyote were such compelling and unusual characters, and surely a treat for any actor to play. I also loved the setting and the way place and time functioned in the play. The invasion of the "dream" into "real life" is so beautiful and visceral; the moment when there's sand in the ice cube trays, for instance. This play didn't push into the 4 or 5 star range for me because I think I'd need to see it staged. Benito and Gabby left me feeling a little cold, and I'm not sure if that's due to my reading or the play itself.

[Josh Hornbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just reading "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot - and Other Plays," a collection of playscripts by Jose Rivera. It took me some time to warm up to Rivera's lyricism and poetry, but by the time I reached the final piece - a collection of monologues from the afterlife - I was thoroughly entranced.

[Stephanie]

I simultaneously want to live in and am scared of living in Rivera's world.

[Jessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jose Rivera is a master. Everyone I know and everyone I don't should read this book.

[Fraser Kinnear · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this at a book sale for a dollar and picked up because it was brief and looked appealing. A nice short character play, but a disposable one.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worked on it as a play. I think that the writing is beautifully poetic, well thought out and so intricately woven into an amazing play.