Overview

Cloud Tectonics is a one-act play by José Rivera

Jose Rivera

Jose Rivera may refer to:*José Antonio Primo de Rivera , Spanish politician*José Eustasio Rivera , Colombian politician and writer*José Rivera , American playwright...

, a dreamlike (and ultimately tragic) love story about its two protagonists, Aníbal de la Luna and Celestina del Sol. It is set in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, with most of the action taking place in Aníbal's house. It is somewhat of the archetypal "boy meets girl" story—but it is truly told by a master of the form.

Rivera puts magical realism (he studied screenwriting with Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...

 at the Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...

 in 1989) to good use in the play by distorting our conceptions of time, space, and even (although not to the same extent) sound. He additionally makes use of poetic (and occasionally absurd) language to enhance the characters and the world of the play.

Production history

The play premiered at the 19th Annual Humana Festival in 1995, and was subsequently produced at the La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. -Background:...

 and later at Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....

in NYC.