Beat of the Traps
by Stephen Prina, Anita Pace and Mike Kelley
Performed in September 2025 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Real Women Have Curves
by Josefina López
Performed from September to October 2025 at Kentwood Players
Watermarks
by Abbott Alexander
Performed in January 2025 at Theatre West
Ashes
a devised project
Installation for victims of L.A. fires.
Travelled January to February 2025
The Directing Lab at Theatre West
Our Lady of 121st St.
by Stephen Adly Guirgis
dir. Marco Rivera
Performed in April 2025
at Theatre West
The Pillowman
by Martin MacDonagh
dir. Marco Rivera
Performed in November 2024
at Theatre West
Orlov (We Couldn't Get the Rights to Dracula)
a devised project
dir. Marco Rivera
Performed in October 2024
at Theatre West
The Devised Puppetry Project
a devised project
Performed:
L.A. Guild of Puppetry, 2019
NBC Special, 2018
National Skirball Puppetry Festival, 2017
Pacific Resident Theatre (PRT), 2016
UCLA Theatrefest, 2015
Dramaturgy:
Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph dir. Helen Floersh Directing Lab at Theatre West 2025
True West by Sam Shepard dir. Kayla Erickson Directing Lab at Theatre West 2024
The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell dir. Charles Platt McCadden Place Theatre 2018
Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov dir. Charles Jin UCLA MFA Directing Thesis 2018
Stupid F#%*ing Bird by Aaron Posner dir. Michelle Gong UCLA MFA Directing Thesis 2017
Assistant Director:
Women and Servants by Lope de Vega dir. Silvia Blush LA Escena Classic Theatre Festival 2018
Swan Lake by Patrick Lundquist & Peter Seibert dir. Sammi Cannold Ricardo Montalbán Theatre 2016
The Winds of Ariston by Patrick Hurley dir. Casey Kringlen UCLA MFA Playwrighting Thesis 2016
Marco, dramaturg, moderates the talkback for
True West by Sam Shepard at Theatre West in
2024. Directed by Kayla Erickson.
Opening night at The Montalbán Theatre for Swan Lake in 2016. Marco was AD to
Sammi Cannold.
Marco, dramaturg, onstage at McCadden Place Theatre in Hollywood for Alexi Kaye Campbell's
The Pride in 2018. Directed by Charles Platt.
Awards and Fellowships:
Ralph Freud Fellowship, 2018
Awarded to a UCLA Acting or Directing student for excellence in theatre work.
Nominated by the directing faculty upon completion of B.A. Directing Thesis, Los Vendidos by Luis Valdez.
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Arnold Heidsick Fellowship, 2017
Awarded to a UCLA undergraduate student’s proposal to develop research in their field while studying abroad in Berlin. Research: Performing Memory: How Memorials shape the Urban Landscape of 21st Century Berlin.
Overseen by Prof. Peter Tokofsky, Head of German Studies and Curator for J.Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
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Teruko Kubota Performance Award, 2017
Awarded to a UCLA Acting student for excellence in performance utilizing Japanese forms.
Nominated by Prof. Tom O’Connor — National Noh Theatre and Theatre Nohgaku in Tokyo — for Bunraku work in the Devised Puppetry Project at Pacific Resident Theatre and the Skirball National Puppetry Festival, 2015 - 2017
Marco's undergraduate thesis, Los Vendidos by Luis Valdez, performed at UCLA as part of the 2017 season. Pictured above:
Roger Hernandez as El Pachuco.
A still from the Devised Puppetry Project, performed at Pacific Resident Theatre (PRT) in 2016. The pictured sequence, The Little Man, explored Bunraku Puppetry through newspaper and found objects. Pictured puppeteers: Marco Rivera, Jodi Wofford, Gareth Marsh.
Training, Masterclasses, and Observerships:
Aesthetics of El Teatro Campesino, Masterclass at CSUN - Mike Curb College of Arts
Luis Valdez - Playwright and filmmaker & Jorge Huerta - Chicano Scholar, Prof. Emeritus at UCSD
Projects discussed: Acting Pedagogy, Theatre of the Sphere
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Expressionism in Theatre, Observerships at Royce Hall - The Center for the Art of Performance (CAP)
Robert Wilson - Theatre Director & Dr. Michael Hackett - Los Angeles Theatre Works, Prof. Emeritus at UCLA
Projects discussed: The Old Woman by Darryl Pickney and Robert Wilson, Letter to a Man by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Robert Wilson
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Radio Theatre, Masterclass at the James Bridges Theatre - UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television
Brian Kite - Artistic Director of La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, Dean of UCLA School of Theatre
Project discussed: In the Heat of the Night by John Ball
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UCLA School of Theatre B.A. Emphasis in Directing and Acting
Sally Spectre by David Johnson at Urban Stages' 30th St. Theatre in NYC, October to November 2025. Production Design by Marco Rivera.
Marco's work as a Production Development Associate - Education Dept. with the Latino Theatre Company at LATC allowed him to learn the operations behind a regional theatre that oversees 4 spaces and 2 seasons a year. 2024 Spring Season projects included Ghost Waltz by Oliver Mayer, American Mariachi by José Cruz González, and Mix-Mix by Boni B. Alvarez
Additional Theatre Work:
Production Design - Sally Spectre by David Johnson Urban Stages, 30th St Theatre NYC 2025
Production Development Associate - Education Dept. Latino Theatre Co. at LATC Spring Season 2024
FOH Production Assistant The Wallis Center for the Performing Arts 2018 – 2019
Casting Assistant - Cruzar La Cara De la Luna by Jose Martínez The Soraya Center for The Performing Arts 2018
Stage Manager - Beneath the Surface a devised project UCLA-Theatre, MFA Department 2016
Assistant Stage Manager - Life on the Praça Roosevelt by Dea Loher UCLA-Theatre, MFA Department 2015
Languages:
Fluent: Spanish, English, French and Italian | Intermediate: Portuguese and Latin | Beginner: German